Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Housing: Keyworkers

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of keyworker housing.

Lee Rowley: Local authorities have discretion about the precise definition of “key worker” allowing individual circumstance and need to be taken into account. Centralised data is, therefore, not collected in the way requested.

Local Authority Housing Fund

Rachel Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of funding provided through the Local Authority Housing Fund was spent on (a) new housing supply and (b) acquiring existing stock in the latest period for which data is available.

Rachel Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of funding provided through the Local Authority Housing Fund was spent on housing allocated to (a) UK citizens, (b) people with a local connection and (c) veterans in the latest period for which data is available.

Lee Rowley: Based on homes delivered through rounds 1 and 2 of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF), as of December 2023, around 40% were delivered through new housing supply (through a mix of new developments, new off-the-shelf supply, conversions and refurbishments) and 60% through acquiring existing stock. We do not currently hold data on the proportion of funding this equates to given local authorities are still delivering through LAHF. Following the conclusion of the first two rounds of the LAHF in 2024, an evaluation will be conducted and published. As part of this evaluation, we will seek information on the proportion of funding spent on new supply.Housing acquired through the fund is allocated according to local allocations, lettings and homelessness policies. DLUHC does not collect demographic data on who the housing is allocated to.

Local Government: Audit

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many best value inspections have been carried out in each year since 2010; and how many minded to notices have been issued in that period.

Simon Hoare: The following table has been drawn from publicly available data. Officials have taken “minded to notices” to mean seeking representations on using best value powers from the Local Government Act 1999 to issue directions to a council that the Secretary of State considers is failing its duty of best value. Note that the table includes extensions and reductions to existing notices as well as new interventions and therefore there is some ‘double counting’.  Best Value InspectionSought representations on intervening using Best Value powers2010012011002012002013002014212015022016022017032018122019002020002021122022 4202315202400

Office for Local Government

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) establishing and (b) running the Office of Local Government.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made with the Office for Local Government of the cost to the public purse for (a) setting up and (b) running the Local Authority Data Explorer.

Simon Hoare: The Government committed to Oflog’s independence in the Levelling Up White Paper, and Oflog has been instructed to act with a spirit of independence. Oflog is currently an Office within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and therefore its expenditure is part of the Departmental accounts. After the 2024-25 financial year, Oflog will produce its own Annual Report which will include details of its expenditure.

Planning Inspectorate

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has received representations on the up to 40-day time period being used by the Planning Inspectorate to respond to correspondence.

Lee Rowley: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence, including by its executive agencies. Where performance is below our standards, we have taken steps to improve the speed and quality of responses to Members and their constituents. While we have not received specific correspondence regarding the Planning Inspectorate, I will certainly ask for it to be raised with the Planning Inspectorate.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many equalities impact assessments his Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Simon Hoare: The information requested is not held centrally.

Homelessness: Young People

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to develop a national strategy on ending youth homelessness.

Felicity Buchan: This Government is committed to tackling all forms of homelessness including youth homelessness.The Government's 'Ending Rough Sleeping for Good' Strategy, published last year and backed by £2 billion over three years in England, recognises young people face particular challenges. The strategy confirmed a £200 million investment in the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme (SHAP) which will deliver homes for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping, including young people. In addition, £2.4 million of Rough Sleeping Initiative funding for 2022-2025 supports youth services in local areas.The department will continue to work with local authorities and partners in the voluntary and community sector and private sector to tackle youth homelessness.

Department for Education

Universities: Transphobia

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will hold discussions with the Committee for Academic Freedom on its news story entitled Nine UK universities label gender-critical academics transphobes, investigation reveals, published on 15 January 2024.

Robert Halfon: Securing academic freedom is a high priority for this government. That is why the government introduced the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.The Act will ensure that universities in England are a place where academics, students and visiting speakers can express a diverse range of views without fear of repercussion. The main provisions of the Act will come into force on 1 August 2024.This Act will require reasonably practicable steps to be taken to secure freedom of speech within the law. It will not change the current legal position on what speech is lawful and unlawful. The department wants academics to feel confident to express their lawful views and challenge received wisdom, even if their views are unpopular.There are currently no plans to hold discussions with the Committee for Academic Freedom.

Property Development: Apprentices

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy that property developers are required to provide apprenticeships.

Robert Halfon: Employers, including property developers, are able to choose which apprenticeships they offer and when, in order to build the skilled workforces they need. No employers are required to provide apprenticeships.There are 99 employer-designed apprenticeship standards in the construction and built environment sector that employers can choose from, including Bricklayer at Level 2 to Construction Site Management (degree) at Level 6. There were 24,530 apprenticeship starts in construction, planning and the built environment in the 2022/23 academic year.Last year, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education reviewed the content and funding of 25 of these standards to ensure they reflect the technological developments and to maintain quality, with the government increasing the funding by 25% on average, including a 40% increase to the Bricklayer standard to £13,000.The government is increasing investment in the apprenticeships system in England to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 to support employers of all sizes and in all sectors to utilise high-quality apprenticeships.

Overseas Students: Visas

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to visas for international students and their dependents on the finances of universities.

Robert Halfon: The government has been successful in delivering the ambition in its International Education Strategy of hosting at least 600,000 students per year, by 2030, for two years running. The department expects that universities will adapt to reduced dependant numbers following the restrictions the government has introduced to control net migration. The department’s offer to international students remains very competitive and the department is committed to ensuring the UK remains a destination of choice for international students from across the globe. International students make a significant economic and cultural contribution to the UK’s higher education (HE) sector, which is good for our universities and delivers growth at home. Those affected by these changes will predominantly be dependants of international students. Students coming to the UK to undertake postgraduate research courses will not be affected by the new restriction on dependents. The Office for Students (OfS), as the regulator for HE in England, has responsibility for monitoring the financial sustainability of registered providers. The department works closely with the OfS to understand the ongoing impacts and changing landscape of financial sustainability in the sector.

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting: Education

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has issued guidance to schools on teaching school children about the (a) history, (b) purpose and (c) value of (i) the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings and (ii) this year's meeting in Samoa.

Damian Hinds: The National Curriculum for citizenship, which is compulsory at key stages 3 and 4, covers the Commonwealth in the context of teaching about local, regional and international governance and the United Kingdom’s relations with the rest of Europe, the United Nations and the wider world including the Commonwealth. The National Curriculum does not mandate specific content about the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings, but schools are free to include content about Heads of Government meetings in this context, including this year’s meeting in Samoa. There are also a number of opportunities in the National Curriculum for history for pupils to be taught about the history of the Commonwealth. For example, pupils are taught about British history from 1745 to 1901, including the development of its Empire, and they are taught the end of Empire and Britain’s place in the world since 1945. The latter could include teaching about the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings, including the first meeting in 1971. The National Curriculum for citizenship can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study and the National Curriculum for history can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-history-programmes-of-study.

Aviation: Training

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she will consider designating pilot flight training as a higher educational course for the purpose of student loans.

Robert Halfon: The courses designated for Higher Education student finance are set out in secondary legislation.To attract funding, students studying in England must generally be undertaking a course leading to a designated qualification at a provider registered with the Office for Students (OfS). Registration with the OfS is a requirement in place to provide assurance to the Secretary of State for Education that students are receiving a high-quality academic experience and value for money. Flying schools are welcome to apply to be on the OfS register. The funding available for designated programmes, which include pilot training, does not normally extend to costs associated with the commercial pilot’s licence and flying experience.

Apprentices: Taxation

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2024 to Question 7553 on Apprentices: Taxation, what the total spend from apprenticeship levy accounts was in each year since 2017; and how much and what what proportion of that spend came through the (a) apprenticeship levy and (b) top-up.

Robert Halfon: The table below shows the total spend from levy-paying employers’ apprenticeship service accounts in each financial year since 2017/2018.These figures do not cover the total spend on apprenticeships in levy-paying employers, such as additional payments for English and maths support and for taking on apprentices aged 16 to 18.It is not possible to provide a breakdown of this spend by employers’ levy contributions and the 10% government top-up to those contributions.Financial Year2017/182018/192019/202020/212021/222022/23Levy spend from employer accounts (£m)1706399611,0411,2381,366

Physical Education: Primary Education

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve PE training for trainee primary school teachers.

Damian Hinds: The government does not prescribe the curriculum of initial teacher training (ITT) courses. The ITT Core Content Framework (CCF) sets out a minimum entitlement to training that accredited ITT providers must incorporate into their primary and/or secondary ITT courses. The ITT Core Content Framework does not set out the full ITT curriculum for trainee teachers. It remains for individual providers to design curricula appropriate for the subject, phase and age range that the trainees will be teaching. Providers should ensure their curricula encompass the full entitlement described in the ITT Core Content Framework, as well as integrating additional analysis and critique of theory, research and expert practice as they deem appropriate. The ITT CCF is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-itt-core-content-framework. The department is continually exploring opportunities to further improve teacher training and professional development, including reviewing the content of the CCF alongside the Early Career Framework. The review is due to be published in early 2024. Primary schools can use the PE and sport premium to provide staff with professional development, mentoring, training and resources to help them improve the quality of their PE, sport and physical activity provision to all pupils, and to embed physical activity across the school day.

Apprentices: Taxation

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2024 to Question 7553 on Apprentices: Taxation, what estimate he has made of the amount of apprenticeship levy that will expire and be returned in each month from December 2023 over the next three years.

Robert Halfon: The government introduced the apprenticeship levy to incentivise larger businesses to develop and invest in their own apprenticeship programmes whilst ensuring the availability of funding for smaller employers wanting to offer apprenticeships. Through the levy, the government is increasing investment in the apprenticeships system in England to £2.7 billion in the 2024/25 financial year to support employers of all sizes to boost the skills of their workforces.The funds in apprenticeship service accounts are available for levy-paying employers to draw on for 24 months before they expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis. In December 2023, £104 million expired from levy-paying employers’ apprenticeship service accounts. Demand for apprenticeships is employer-led and the government does not have an estimate of future levy expiry from employers’ apprenticeship service accounts.The funds available to levy-paying employers through their apprenticeship service accounts are not the same as the apprenticeships budget which funds apprenticeships in England for employers of all sizes. As such, expired funds from employers’ accounts do not represent funding that is lost to the system. Rather, the department directs this funding to supporting apprenticeships in small and medium-sized enterprises, to English and mathematics training for apprentices and to additional payments to employers, training providers and apprentices. Therefore, the department’s spend against its annual apprenticeship budget is a better indicator of the extent to which employers’ levy contributions are being utilised to drive skills development in England. On average, 98% of the English apprenticeships budget has been spent over the last two financial years.

GCE A-level: Feltham and Heston

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children in Feltham and Heston constituency have received two A-Levels or equivalent in each year since 2009.

Damian Hinds: Data are not published at Parliamentary constituency level.

English Language and Mathematics: GCSE

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of young people achieve a pass in (a) GCSE English, (b) GCSE maths, (c) Functional Skills Level 2 English and (d) Functional Skills Level 2 maths in each year group in 16-19 education by prior attainment at age 16.

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of young people achieve a pass in GCSE (a) English and (b) maths in 16-19 education by (i) prior attainment at age 16, (ii) whether they are from a disadvantaged background or not and (iii) region.

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of young people achieve a pass in Functional Skills Level 2 (a) English and (b) maths in 16-19 education by (i) prior attainment at age 16, (ii) whether they are from a disadvantaged background or not and (iii) region.

Damian Hinds: The department collects data on entries into GCSE and Functional Skills English and maths by students aged 16 to18 attending schools and colleges in England, including independent schools. Most students aged 16 to 18 enter below level 3 English and maths qualifications because they did not achieve a GCSE pass at grade 9 to 4 or equivalent during key stage 4, and so are required to continue to study those subjects under condition of funding rules. More information on condition of funding rules can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-maths-and-english-condition-of-funding. Data is published in the ‘A level and other 16 to 18 results’ national statistics release and provides the number of entries and pass rates in each year. A link to this publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results. Tables 1 and 2 of the attached spreadsheet provide the data by the breakdowns requested. Data by year group is not available. Note that a student may appear in the data more than once, for example if they entered exams both at the start of the academic year and in the following summer. Further, whilst the data shows many more entries by 16 to18 year olds in GCSEs versus Functional Skills at level 2, this to some extent follows differences in data collected by awarding organisations, where each recorded ‘entry’ in Functional Skills possibly reflects multiple assessment attempts. Local practice will vary and practices in large individual colleges can have impact on regional rates. The department also publishes related data in the ‘Level 2 and 4 attainment by age 16 to 25’ national statistics release.This tracks the attainment in English and maths for students in the mainstream state sector in year 11, which is the final year of secondary school, to age 19 (so 16 to 19), and includes data on achievement of 19 year olds in level 2 English or maths broken down by disadvantage status and prior attainment. More information can be accessed via the links below:Level 2 and 3 attainment by age 16 to 25: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/level-2-and-3-attainment-by-young-people-aged-19.Data on achievement of 19 year olds in level 2 English or maths: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9201f54a-b415-403c-46ab-08dc15e274f3.Disadvantage status: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/fbe46912-8b51-47a9-ab08-08dc15deba2a.Prior attainment: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8d49f533-d064-4ff6-ab09-08dc15deba2a. 10317_10318_10319_data_table (xlsx, 30.7KB)

English Language and Mathematics: Private Education

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the (a) economic impact and (b) effectiveness of private tuition funded by the national tutoring programme; and what information her Department holds on the potential impact of this funding on tuition in (i) mathematics and (ii) English.

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of benefit to cost ratios of the National Tutoring Programme Programme in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools.

Damian Hinds: The department is investing over £1 billion in tutoring via its flagship National Tutoring Programme. This has seen nearly five million tutoring courses commence since the programme started in November 2020, including over two million in each of the last two academic years. Primary, secondary and special schools are continuing to offer tutoring, with 346,000 courses having started in the first five weeks of the current academic year. There is extensive evidence that tutoring is one of the most effective ways to accelerate academic progress. The Education Endowment Foundation has found that, on average, pupils who receive small group tutoring may make four months additional progress. The department’s external evaluation of year two of the National Tutoring Programme, carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research, shows that School Led Tutoring has had a positive impact on pupil attainment at both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4.

Special Educational Needs: Blackpool North and Cleveleys

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number and proportion of children with SEND who are (a) persistently and (b) severely absent from school in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency.

Damian Hinds: A pupil is classified as persistently absent if they miss 10% or more of their own possible sessions. A pupil is classified as severely absent if they miss 50% or more of their possible sessions. This table shows the numbers and rates of persistently absent and severely absent pupils in Blackpool North and Cleveleys parliamentary constituency by Special Educational Need (SEN) status for the latest full academic year available, 2021/22. Persistent absenteesPersistent absentee %Severe absenteesSevere absentee %SEN1 Support49131.9342.2Statement or EHCP212231.282.0Source: School Census.1 Special Educational Need2 Education, Health and Care Plan. This table excludes a small number of pupils with unclassified SEN status. Information on pupil absence, including breakdowns by pupil characteristics, is published in the ‘Pupil absence in schools in England’ national statistic, though this does not give constituency level information. This publication for the latest full academic year, 2021/22, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2021-22.

Teachers: Training

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what bursaries are available for teacher training in history.

Damian Hinds: The bursaries the department offers are designed to incentivise more applications to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses. The department reviews bursaries each year before deciding the offer for trainees starting ITT the following academic year. In doing this, the department takes account of a number of factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject. Recruitment to history ITT courses has been healthy in recent years. In the 2023/24 academic year, the department recruited 119% of the history postgraduate ITT target. As a result, the department is not offering bursaries for history ITT courses. Focussing our bursary spend means the department is spending money where it is needed most. All trainees on a tuition fee-funded ITT course can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding is also available depending on individual circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/teacher-training-funding.

Housing: Children

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support local authorities with finding homes for children with complex needs.

David Johnston: All children should live somewhere that meets their needs and keeps them safe. Under Section 22G of the Children Act 1989, it is the duty of each local social services authority to provide suitable accommodation for children in their care. However, the government recognises the challenges local authorities face, and the need for system-wide reform. To support local authorities, the department has allocated £259 million in funding to maintain capacity and expand provision across open children’s homes (OCHs) and secure children’s homes (SCHs) within England, up until March 2025. Funding to develop OCH provision is provided on a match-funding basis with the department and the local authority local authority contributing 50% funding. For SCH provision, the department provides local authorities with 100% funding. Additional capacity has already been developed, with 36 smaller projects being complete and becoming operational within the SCH estate since the programme launched in 2021. The government recognises the need for long-term, system-level reform of children’s social care. In February 2023, the government published “Stable Homes, Built on Love – Implementation Strategy and Consultation”, which set out the government’s proposals to reform children’s social care following reviews from the Competition and Markets Authority and Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. The report recommends system changes to ensure suitable placements are available to meet the needs of children. The department recognises that some children and young people can fall between gaps in a complex system of education, social care and justice services, and there is a lack of evidence-based, integrated, co-commissioned models of care. These gaps are being addressed through a jointly led departmental and NHS England cross-government work programme to improve how system partners work together to improve outcomes for children who are in the most complex situations. The department has established an ‘‘Improving support for Children in Complex Situations with Multiple Needs” Task and Finish Group (TFG), which aims to enhance support for children in complex situations. The goal is to improve collaboration among system partners to better serve children, particularly those at risk of losing their freedom. The group aims to align government efforts to design, commission and deliver integrated care models, including social care, health, education and youth justice, with the support of key stakeholders.Transparency data has been published online which provides more information about the TFG and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/improving-cross-sector-support-for-children-in-complex-situations-with-multiple-needs-task-and-finish-group?cgfc.

Department of Health and Social Care

General Practitioners

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase access to GPs.

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase patient access to GP appointments.

Andrea Leadsom: We recognise that despite the hard work of general practice teams, some patients are still struggling to access care in a timely way. That is why we have published our Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. The plan has two central ambitions: to tackle the 8am rush and reduce the number of people struggling to contact their practice, and for patients to know on the day they contact their practice how their request will be managed.We will achieve this by rolling out new digital tools and telephone systems which can help practices to better match their capacity to patient demand, backed by £240 million in retargeted funding. The plan also includes further measures to empower patients to do more themselves, cut bureaucracy for general practitioners (GPs) and build capacity to deliver more appointments by diversifying the workforce. We have also increased the number of doctors working in general practice and record numbers of GPs are in training.We have now delivered on our commitment for 50 million more GP appointments per year, with 364.1 million booked across the last 12 months.

Food: Safety

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps (a) her Department, (b) the Food Standards Agency and (c) the UK Health Security Agency have taken to help ensure that unsafe food is not placed on the market by companies that were involved in the outbreak of E.coli O157 in August 2020 and August 2022.

Andrea Leadsom: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and other health protection agencies undertook a thorough investigation of this outbreak linked to fresh produce, which involved the appropriate food safety enforcement authorities for each site involved. A review of food safety management systems provided reassurance that robust controls were in place. Where opportunities for improvement were identified, the FSA along with the enforcing local authorities provided risk management advice to food businesses.Following engagement with industry trade associations to assess industry practices and approaches to risk assessment mitigation across the fresh produce sector, a multi-agency working group has been formed to review standard practices across the industry. The UK Health Security Agency undertook a surveillance study which included a retail sampling survey of fresh produce in 2023. Early monitoring of results indicates good safety practices in the fresh produce sector with no evidence of serious public health consequences.

Dental Services: Finance

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to provide additional funding to help prevent the closure of NHS dental services.

Andrea Leadsom: The National Health Service reformed dental contracts in 2022 which will help to improve access for patients across England while providing fairer remuneration for dentists. We are already investing £3 billion a year into dentistry and are working hard to improve access to care. We know that we must go further and will publish a Dentistry Recovery Plan shortly.From 1 April 2023, the commissioning responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population was delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs became responsible for having local processes in place to involve patient groups, and for undertaking oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.

Pharmacy: Prescriptions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that newly qualified independent prescribers have clinical supervision.

Andrea Leadsom: The education and training standards for independent prescribers will be set by relevant regulators, and the clinical governance of that person’s work will vary depending on profession and sector. They will all be registered and regulated health professionals, accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care.

Dental Services

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of dentists that advertise NHS services but are not able to provide them due to (a) levels of staffing and (b) financial reasons.

Andrea Leadsom: NHS England and integrated care boards review data each month on the number of practices open and accepting new patients. There is no data held centrally relating to the reasons why practices are not able to provide services within the National Health Service. The Department announced a package of improvements to the NHS dental system in July 2022 and detailed in Our plan for patients. These changes now make it a contractual requirement for dentists to update their information on the NHS website at least every 90 days to improve information available to patients. This will make it easier for patients to find a dentist who can deliver the care they need and for the system to refer patients to practices with available capacity.

General Practitioners: Workplace Pensions

Olivia Blake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints her Department received about the (a) processing and (b) administration of GP pensions in each of the last five years.

Andrea Leadsom: The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) administers the NHS Pension Scheme. NHS England act as the host board for general practitioners (GPs) and are responsible for local pension administration for GPs. This is provided through the Primary Care Support England contract they hold with Capita. Complaints about the processing and administration of GP pensions may be directed to the NHSBSA or NHS England. The NHSBSA and NHS England operate their own complaints processes.The Department does not routinely receive complaints on GP pension matters, but it does receive items of correspondence on this issue. However, it is not possible to isolate items of correspondence relating to GP pension processing and administration from other items of correspondence relating to NHS Pension Scheme policy.

Dentistry: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will (a) make an assessment of the availability of NHS dentists in York and (b) take steps with the Integrated Care Board to analyse and act upon the findings of that assessment.

Andrea Leadsom: In 2022/23, 853 dentists in Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) performed National Health Service work. This is equivalent to 49.9 dentists per 100,000 population. From 1 April 2023, the commissioning responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population was delegated to ICBs across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to involve patient groups, and for undertaking oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment. We are working on our dental plan, which will be published shortly and will include further measures to improve access.

Dental Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the NHS dentistry recovery plan before 31 March 2024.

Andrea Leadsom: We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan, to be published shortly, which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make National Health Service work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver NHS care. Our Dentistry Recovery Plan will build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022, which included changes to banding and the introduction of a minimum Units of Dental Activity value.

Soft Drinks: Sugar

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has held recent discussions with (a) food and drink manufacturers and (b) high street retailers on taking steps to reduce the sugar content of iced coffee products.

Andrea Leadsom: Engagement continues with trade associations and businesses on the need for further progress, beyond what has already been made, to reduce the sugar content of iced coffee products.As these products are excluded from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), guidelines to reduce the sugar content of milk based drinks, including iced coffee products, by 20% by 2021 form part of the voluntary sugar reduction programme. Progress to date shows that sugar and calories in pre-packed milk based drinks sold through retail have reduced by 29.7% and 20%, respectively. Pre-packed milk substitute drinks have reduced sugar and calories by 6.9% and 8%, respectively.A further report detailing progress on sugar reductions in these products, between 2017 and 2021, is due in 2024. This data will enable HM Treasury to consider whether to take these drinks into the levy, which it committed to when the SDIL came in to force in 2018.

Processed Food: Sugar

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will hold discussions with the food industry on reducing the sugar content in (a) food and (b) drink products.

Andrea Leadsom: As she has done in previous ministerial roles, the current Secretary of State will recuse herself on departmental issues relating to outside interests, all of which have been declared to the House and under the Ministerial Code.Discussions have been held with businesses by the Minister for Public Health, and officials, since 2015, on the actions they can take to reduce the sugar content of food and drink products.The Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) came in to force in April 2018. Between 2015 and 2020, levels of sugar in drinks subject to SDIL reduced by 46%, removing over 45,000 tonnes of sugar, while sales increased by approximately 21%. The reductions were spread evenly across all socio-economic groups.Milk based drinks are excluded from the levy but are included in the voluntary sugar reduction programme. To date, sugar and calories in pre-packed milk based drinks sold through retail have reduced by 29.7% and 20%, respectively. Pre-packed milk substitute drinks have reduced sugar and calories by 6.9% and 8%, respectively.The voluntary sugar reduction programme also includes the foods that contribute most to the sugar intakes of children aged up to 18 years old. Between 2015 and 2020, reductions in sugar levels were seen in all categories, with breakfast cereals and yogurts and fromage frais showing the greatest change with reductions of 14.9% and 13.5%, respectively, and removing 21,960 tonnes of sugar.

Pharmacy: Prescriptions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to enable all registered pharmacists to become independent prescribers.

Andrea Leadsom: Following reforms to pharmacist initial education and training, from 2026 all newly qualified pharmacists will be independent prescribers on the day of registration.Furthermore, NHS England is investing £15.9 million on pharmacy professional career development. This has helped fund 3,000 training places in 2023/24 for independent prescribing for post-registration pharmacists working in the community, general practice and secondary care. NHS England and the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education also offer a range of support to upskill the current workforce with clinical examination skills, and are training 1,000 designated prescribing practitioners and education supervisors to support the training of pharmacist independent prescribers.

Abortion: Demonstrations

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on the potential impact of the draft non-statutory guidance on abortion clinic safe access zones on (a) patients and (b) medical professionals.

Maria Caulfield: Officials in the Department of Health and Social Care are in regular contact with officials at the Home Office about the draft non-statutory guidance on abortion clinic safe access zones. To ensure the balance of the guidance is right, the Home Office launched a public consultation on 11 December 2023, to which all those with an interest, including patients and medical professionals, are encouraged to respond.No recent discussions have been held at ministerial level with the Secretary of State for the Home Office on the potential impact of the draft guidance on patients and medical professionals.

Paediatrics: Standards

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce waiting times for children and young people to access community paediatric services.

Helen Whately: The government is working hard to bring down NHS waits, including in community services.The latest data shows fewer children are waiting for community health services, and we’re boosting access to speech therapy and mental health support in schools.

Cancer: Waiting Lists

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for treatments for (a) breast, (b) ovarian and (c) prostate cancer.

Andrew Stephenson: Reducing waiting times for treatments of all types of cancer is a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis as this is a key contributor to reducing cancer health inequalities. We are expanding capacity through our community diagnostic centres (CDCs) supported by £2.3 billion of capital funding with 150 CDCs currently operational and having delivered over six million additional tests, checks and scans including vital cancer checks since January 2021.The planned Major Conditions Strategy will look at the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer and will consider a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for a range of cancer patients, including those less survivable cancers.NHS England has commissioned six cancer clinical audits which will provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatments and outcomes for patients, including ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, kidney cancer and primary and metastatic breast cancer. The Royal College of Surgeons began work on this audit in October 2022, and the first outcomes expected in September 2024.

Community Diagnostic Centres: Cancer

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the rollout of community diagnostic centres on the time taken to diagnose less survivable cancers.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government is taking steps through NHS England to improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those cancers mentioned by the Less Survivable Cancer Taskforce, namely lung, liver, brain, oesophageal, pancreatic and stomach. Diagnostic checks are a key part of cancer pathways and the 150 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) opened by the Government will give earlier diagnostic tests, benefitting millions of patients including those who are referred with suspected less survivable cancers. National Health Service systems have been asked to prioritise CDC capacity towards their most challenged cancer pathways, where this is clinically appropriate, and these centres have delivered over six million additional tests for all elective activity since July 2021. The CDC programme is on track to meet its target to open up to 160 CDCs by March 2025, with many due to open ahead of schedule.In November 2022, the NHS also announced an expansion of direct access to diagnostic scans across all general practices, to help cut waiting times and speeding up cancer diagnosis, or all-clear for patients. The NHS is now looking to widen the clinical pathways for which this is offered.Making improvements across different cancer types is critical to helping achieve the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of patients at an early stage by 2028 and reducing inequalities in cancer survival. NHS England has commissioned new cancer clinical audits covering six cancer types, some of which are less survivable: pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, kidney cancer and primary and metastatic breast cancer. All six audits will cover care delivered in England and Wales.

Prescription Drugs: Internet

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to prevent the selling of prescription drugs online without requiring a prescription.

Andrew Stephenson: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the regulator in the United Kingdom for human medicines and is responsible for enforcing the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, which are available at the following link:https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1916/contents/made  The MHRA has identified the illegal sale and supply of human medicines as a global challenge. This includes the sale of prescription drugs without a prescription from unregulated sources. Criminal gangs, often based overseas, advertise medicines through illicit websites resembling those of legitimate pharmacies, while others exploit online marketplaces or sell social media platforms.The MHRA has a dedicated Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) that works with partners across the Government, policing to prevent and disrupt this illegal trade and to bring to justice those involved. The CEU monitors online channels for evidence of illegal activity and takes proportionate regulatory action. This includes using the full range of the Agency’s powers to investigate and prosecute offenders where necessary and appropriate. The unit also works to remove illegally trading websites and remove criminal profits from offenders. Through its #FakeMeds communications campaign the MHRA also provides quick and easy tools to help the public avoid buying illegally traded medicines when they shop online.

Diabetes: Health Services

Mark Eastwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of support for people with diabetes in (a) Dewsbury constituency and (b) West Yorkshire.

Andrew Stephenson: NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board has a dedicated diabetes programme and system wide diabetes leadership team which includes representation from National Health Service organisations, including acute trusts and primary and community care, and local authorities. The West Yorkshire diabetes programme team is working together to deliver national diabetes programmes to prevent the onset of and improve the lives of people living with diabetes across West Yorkshire, including Dewsbury.Kirklees Health and Care Partnership completed a full review of diabetes services across Kirklees in 2023. Extensive engagement with the Kirklees communities took place via a community champions project. Kirklees Health and Care Partnership invested £155,000 to support the community champion engagement and, in voluntary organisations, to develop new services for communities to access help to both prevent the onset of diabetes and support self-management.

Department of Health and Social Care: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many equalities impact assessments her Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Andrew Stephenson: Under the Public Sector Equality Duty, otherwise known as the Duty, all public authorities, including Government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. Whilst ‘equality impact assessments’ may be produced, there is no legal requirement for duty assessments to be recorded in a specific format.We do not centrally monitor assessments in this area but are confident that we are meeting the Duty in our decision-making processes. As a Department, we promote awareness of the Duty, via a number of channels, and the relevant analytical and other tools are available to policy professionals, to help ensure compliance with the Duty.

World Health Assembly

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to her Department was for officials to attend the fourth meeting of the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations in July 2023.

Andrew Stephenson: The travel and accommodation costs for officials to attend was £980.15.

Palliative Care

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve (a) access to and (b) the standard of palliative care; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of provisions in the Health and Care Act 2022 relating to the provision of palliative care.

Helen Whately: The Government recognises that access to high-quality, palliative and end of life care can make all the difference to individuals and their loved ones.As set out on the Health and Care Act 2022, integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative and end of life services that meet the needs of their population. In July 2022, NHS England (NHSE) published statutory guidance for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, which sets out the considerations for ICBs to meet their legal duties and makes clear reference to the importance of access to services. The guidance is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/palliative-and-end-of-life-care-statutory-guidance-for-integrated-care-boards-icbs/Together with NHSE, we are monitoring ICB’s delivery of this responsibility. NHSE‘s palliative and end of life care team has reviewed all 42 ICB Joint Forward Plans for their inclusion of palliative and end of life care, with 69% making a specific mention.Palliative and end of life care has been added to the agenda for Regional Quality and Performance meetings and ICB commissioners have access to a new palliative and end of life care dashboard, which helps commissioners to understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population.Over the last three years, Palliative and End of Life Care Strategic Clinical Networks have been funded by NHSE to share best practice between areas and drive improvements in access and quality of care.NHSE has also taken steps to improve the standard of palliative care, including through developing and leading the Systems Getting to Outstanding programme. This programme is designed to improve the quality of palliative and end of life care through collaboration and peer learning.

Dementia: Diagnosis

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has plans to invest in diagnostic infrastructure for people with dementia.

Helen Whately: We committed in 2019 to double funding for dementia research to £160 million per year by 2024/25. This will span all areas of research from causes and prevention to treatment and care, delivering evidence to help prevent, diagnose and treat dementia, enabling the best possible care and quality of life for people with dementia.NHS England is also working with partner agencies to support and inform further research into other diagnostic modalities, including blood-based biomarker and digital tests, which will help improve identification and management of Alzheimer’s disease.The National Health Service is a world leader in rolling out innovative treatments, including personalised cancer and life-saving gene therapies, and has established a dedicated programme team to prepare the NHS for the potential arrival of new Alzheimer’s treatments that are approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and determined to be clinically and cost-effective by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.The team at NHS England are assessing the additional scanning, treating and monitoring capacity which would be required across the country. This includes securing additional diagnostic capacity including magnetic resonance imaging, lumbar puncture, and positron emission tomography and computed tomography.

Eating Disorders

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS trusts use a body mass index threshold for treatment for eating disorders in (a) adults and (b) children and adolescents.

Maria Caulfield: The Department does not hold this data centrally. NHS England continues to emphasise to systems and services that body mass index should not be used as a single measure to determine access to treatment within eating disorder services. This is in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendations and is included in national published guidance.

Cabinet Office

Public Sector: Access

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to help ensure that people who are not online have the choice of accessing public services (a) by phone, (b) by letter and (c) face-to-face.

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to introduce funding for public bodies to help ensure the provision of offline options for service users.

Andrew Western: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it her policy to ensure that everyone has the choice to access public services offline by phone, letter or face-to-face.

Andrew Western: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it her policy to introduce funding for public bodies to ensure that they are able to provide offline options for all service users.

Alex Burghart: The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has affordable access to public services, whether online or offline. Government departments are already required by the Government's Service Standard to provide support via alternative channels for all their online services. The wider public sector, including local government, is also encouraged to use the service standard, with some Local Authorities having committed to doing so via the Local Digital Declaration. Government teams are assessed against Service Standard to ensure that services are accessible to all users, including disabled people, people with other legally protected characteristics, people who do not have access to the internet and/or lack the skills and/or confidence to use the internet.

Ferries: Procurement

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what procurement rules apply to a (a) devolved and (b) commissioning authority seeking to tender for the construction of lifeline ferries.

Alex Burghart: Reserved Public Procurement in the UK, as well as devolved Welsh and transferred Northern Ireland procurement, is regulated in the UK by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 and, in some cases, specific rules relating to specialist sectors. While the provisions in these main regulations extend to the whole of the UK, they do not cover procurement by devolved Scottish authorities in respect of devolved matters. Legislation governing devolved Scottish procurement includes the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 in combination with the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

Ministers' Private Offices: Artificial Intelligence

Peter Kyle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer on 18 January 2024 to Question 9578 on Artificial Intelligence, in which private offices the Red Box Copilot is being tested.

Alex Burghart: The Red Box Copilot has been made available to the Private Offices of Minister Burghart, of the Cabinet Secretary, and of the Chief Operating Officer of the Civil Service, in which it is either currently or will shortly be going through more formal testing.

Surveillance: China

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to (a) find and (b) remove Chinese surveillance technology from national security infrastructure.

Alex Burghart: The UK takes its national security extremely seriously and has taken robust action to secure and protect its national security infrastructure.Following Royal Assent of the Procurement Act on 26 October 2023 the Government committed to publishing a timeline for the removal of surveillance equipment supplied by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of China from sensitive sites within six months.To meet this commitment, the Cabinet Office has been working with departments to identify any such equipment on their sensitive sites, and will publish a timeline for when the removal process will be complete, by 26 April 2024.

King Charles III: Art Works

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse is of hanging an official portrait of His Majesty The King in public authorities in the UK.

Alex Burghart: As is usual practice following accession, an Official Portrait has been taken of His Majesty The King to mark the start of the new Reign, for use in public buildings and for other official purposes. His Majesty’s Government will use this portrait for the Official Portrait Scheme, announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in April last year. The ongoing scheme opened in November 2023 to enable certain Public Authorities across the UK to apply for a free, framed official portrait of His Majesty The King for display in their buildings. As always, the Government is ensuring value for money in the contract for the production and distribution of the Official Portrait. By establishing a UK-wide contract for the supply of portraits for this scheme, HMG has achieved a significant cost saving in comparison to comparable commercially available royal portraits thereby benefiting the public-purse as a whole. The supplier will be paid per delivered portrait and as it is a voluntary scheme the final cost will depend on the uptake.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs during his oral statement on Afghan Resettlement Update of 13 December 2023, Official Report, column 911, whether the existing hotel contracts being extended apply only to new arrivals from Afghanistan.

Johnny Mercer: The Government remains committed to ending the systemic use of hotels, and we do not plan to open new hotels to meet the increased demand from new arrivals from Afghanistan.The information requested on hotel contracts is not publicly available; however, a small number of hotels with existing contracts have been extended for a limited time period to help accommodate Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme arrivals who have yet to be matched to settled housing solutions in the United Kingdom.

Emergencies: Mobile Phones

Dave Doogan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost of the Emergency Alerts system is.

John Glen: The total cost to date of developing the technical architecture and systems that underpin the emergency alert capability, in addition to the first three years of operational delivery, will be a maximum of £25.3 million.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

AI Safety Summit

Andrew Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will publish the names of people who attended the AI Summit 2023 on behalf of (a) organisations and (b) governments.

Saqib Bhatti: The names of the organisations and governments who confirmed their attendance prior to the AI Safety Summit was previously published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-introduction/ai-safety-summit-confirmed-governments-and-organisationsA more detailed list of attendees is due to be published in due course. In the meantime, we have been following procedures to ensure GDPR compliance and a more detailed list of attendees is to be published in due course.

Artificial Intelligence and ICT: Postgraduate Education

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness of and (b) adequacy of the levels of industry co-funding for the AI and data science postgraduate conversion course scholarship programme.

Saqib Bhatti: The £30 million AI and Data Science Conversion Course programme was established in 2020 to broaden the supply of talent in the UK AI labour market. It funded universities to develop masters level AI or data science courses suitable for non-STEM students and 2,600 scholarships for students from backgrounds underrepresented in the tech industry. We are already seeing the positive impact the programme is having in addressing the AI skills gap. As of March 2023 6,300 students have enrolled on the programme, almost three times our targets. 73% of scholarships awarded to women, 35% awarded to Black students, and 26% awarded to disabled students. The courses are successfully converting non-STEM students to enter the AI labour market: 88% of employed graduates were in employment directly related to AI or data science, either in the public or private sector. In 2023 an industry co-funding element was added, whereby industry could support the programme through in-kind support or scholarship funding. As of November 2023, this amounted to over £6.5 million in in-kind support and scholarship funding. The in-kind contributions directly support student employability and includes co-design and delivery of course content to ensure students gain skills to meet sector need; providing access to software and applications to support learning and skills development; and opportunities to engage with industry through employer-led talks and workshops, industry mentoring support, and provision of work-based projects and placements.

Members: Correspondence

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she plans to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay of (a) 22 September, (b) 25 October, (c) 23 November, and (d) 20 December 2023 regarding a constituent, case reference JB42595.

Michelle Donelan: The Department attaches great importance to the timely processing of correspondence. The Department offers sincere apologies for exceptional delay in processing this case to the member for Basildon and Billericay and will expedite a reply as soon as possible.

Innovation and Research: Skilled Workers

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 8 of the Government's R&D People and Culture Strategy, published in July 2021, what progress she has made on working with funders and the research and innovation community to co-design a joined-up talent offer.

Andrew Griffith: The Government is continuing to work closely with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the four UK National Academies and the wider R&D sector, including through the R&D People and Culture Strategy Ministerial Coordination Group, to ensure the UK has an attractive joined-up talent offer to support our science and technology superpower ambitions.

Digital Technology

Andrew Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to publish a revised Digital Inclusion Strategy.

Andrew Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Digital Inclusion Strategy takes account of people who are unable to get online.

Saqib Bhatti: The Government is committed to ensuring no-one is left behind in this digital age. The 2022 UK Digital Strategy outlined work that will promote digital inclusion and help people to get online, including committing to at least 85% gigabit broadband coverage by 2025 and delivering legislation that will mitigate online harms through the Online Safety Bill (now Act). Rather than write a standalone Digital Inclusion strategy, the Government is focused on delivering work that will address this issue. This is a cross-Government effort, with work being overseen by a new ministerial group, which will meet twice a year to drive progress.

Artificial Intelligence: Women

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to encourage women and girls' involvement in artificial intelligence.

Saqib Bhatti: Government is committed to helping diversify the whole ecosystem and empower diverse, brilliant people right across the UK. That’s why the government invested £30 million into the AI and Data Science Conversion Course program, which was established to broaden the supply of talent in the UK AI labour market. We are already seeing the positive impact the programme is having: it is increasing the diversity of the student cohort and successfully converting non-STEM students to enter the AI labour market. So far, 73% of scholarships were awarded to women. Digital skills are fundamental to ensuring everyone can make the most of a digital future. As the department that leads on digital skills, we are focusing on broadening and deepening the pool of talent. The Digital Skills Council convenes stakeholders from across the sector to deliver industry led action on driving the growth of the digital workforce, including widening the skills pipelines, and ensuring tech roles are accessible for all. One of the council’s objectives is to promote mechanisms to provide increasingly diverse access to digital roles and digitally enabled roles. Additionally, since 2017, we have supported the Tech Talent Charter (TTC), a not-for-profit organisation providing research, insights and a practical toolkit to promote diversity in the tech companies. They bring together over 700 signatory organisations, across 42 industry sectors, representing 160,000 people, equipping them with the networks and resources to drive their diversity efforts.

Research

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department has taken in response to the recommendations of the UKRI Review of peer review, published on 3 July 2023.

Andrew Griffith: The Review of Peer Review was published in July 2023. UKRI is now using the findings to reflect on its processes, including how it can use more innovative peer review methods in an evidence-based way, whilst sharing learning with the broader sector.

Research: Staff

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology,	with reference to page six of her Department's policy paper entitled Research and development (R&D) people and culture strategy, published on 22 July 2021, what steps her Department is taking to ensure (a) leadership and (b) management skills are actively developed and supported in (i) talent programmes and (ii) grant holders’ terms and conditions.

Andrew Griffith: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has recently reviewed grant terms and conditions to be explicit that leadership and management skills development costs can be claimed in applications for its talent programmes and in grant holders’ terms. UKRI’s existing Future Leaders Fellows Development Network has been expanded to include holders of other UKRI fellowships and research leaders in UKRI’s Centres Institutes and Units. The four UK National Academies’ talent programmes support leadership and management skills to help researchers lead their teams and commercialise their ideas.

Telecommunications: Permitted Development Rights

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of permitted development rules on the commercial performance of telecommunications companies that have built networks under those rules.

Julia Lopez: The Government is committed to ensuring gigabit broadband is available across the country as soon as possible. To support this, we are working to support efficient network deployment and promote market competition in a variety of ways. Permitted Development Rights for telegraph poles form part of this strategy, enabling operators to deploy their infrastructure without costly and disruptive roadworks, increasing the speed of rollout, and increasing competition and consumer choice.Separately to the Permitted Development Rights regime, we have introduced a number of changes to legislation aimed at making it easier for operators to upgrade and share the use of existing infrastructure, reducing the need for future installations. These measures came into force in February and April of last year and we will continue to promote their use and monitor their impact.Since the Permitted Development Rights regime forms part of a wider deployment strategy and legal framework, it would be extremely difficult to assess the impact of that regime on the commercial performance of operations in isolation. Furthermore, while creating the right environment to attract investment is a key pillar of our strategy, we do not set operational targets for commercial projects which are privately funded and managed.DSIT is looking closely at the way operators install fixed networks and as part of this, will consider whether additional guidance is needed.

National Science and Technology Council

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when the National Science and Technology Council last met.

Andrew Griffith: It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Syria: Turkey

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of aerial bombardments by Turkey in the northeast of Syria in the last 12 months.

Leo Docherty: The UK recognises Turkey's legitimate security interests in Syria but also the need to protect civilian lives and infrastructure, and to avoid destabilising activity. Security and stability in the region are essential to prevent worsening of the already serious humanitarian situation in northern Syria and enable the Global Coalition to continue the fight against Daesh. We continue to monitor the situation, but the UK is not in a position to provide a figure on the number of Turkish airstrikes in Northeast Syria over the last 12 months.

Israel: Gaza

Dan Carden: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has received legal advice on the UK’s duty to prevent under the Genocide Convention for the conflict in Gaza.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: As a party to the Convention, the UK is fully committed to the prevention and punishment of genocide as appropriate under the Convention. In terms of the situation in Gaza, our position on this is clear: Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas, in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. It is for courts to decide on matters of genocide, not for states. We of course respect the role and independence of the International Court of Justice.

Laos: Christianity

Ian Paisley: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of anti-Christian sentiment in Laos.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK is committed to promoting and defending Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), as demonstrated by our hosting the 'International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief' in July 2022. We also work through the UN to promote and protect these rights. The UK Embassy in Laos raises concerns about limitations on freedom of expression and other human rights issues, including freedom of religion, on a regular basis, both publicly and in private and last did this on 10 January 2024. I visited Laos in September 2023 and raised our concern over particular human rights cases with Laos Ministers. We also raise country specific human rights issues at the UN Human Rights Council.

Pakistan: Development Aid

Ruth Jones: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he is taking steps to monitor the (a) potential impact and (b) transparency of spending of aid to Pakistan.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK is committed to maintaining the highest standards of evidence and transparency for all its investments including aid spend in Pakistan. Aid is targeted using pre-defined criteria and in consultation with representatives of receiving groups. All our programmes are subject to robust monitoring and evaluation processes. FCDO publishes detailed information on projects and programmes to the International Aid Transparency Initiative, and in 2022 FCDO was rated as 'good' in the aid transparency index which measure the transparency of the spending and activities of major development organisations globally.

Pakistan: Elections

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he has had discussions with the Commonwealth secretariat on the potential merits of observing the upcoming general election in Pakistan.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Commonwealth Secretariat's observation missions are important for supporting resilient democratic institutions across the Commonwealth, in line with the values of the Commonwealth Charter. We work with Commonwealth partners and our network of overseas posts to ensure missions have the support they need to carry out their work successfully.The Secretariat has supported Pakistan in recent years to improve its election management, including increasing women's participation. We would support a decision of the Secretariat to deploy a Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) ahead of the election in Pakistan.

China: Foreign Relations

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many ministerial there have been to the People’s Republic of China in the last twelve months.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited Beijing in August 2023 and had bilateral meetings with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng. Lord Johnson, Minister for Investment, DBT, visited Beijing and Shanghai in September 2023. He attended China's International Fair for Investment and Trade where the UK was guest of honour. In her capacity as then-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Thérèse Coffey visited Beijing and Shanghai in November 2023. During her visit, Dr Coffey met Chinese counterparts to discuss UK agri-food exports and global biodiversity ahead of COP28.

India: Religious Buildings

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will hold discussions with the Government of India on steps it is taking in response to the Supreme Court's ruling in December 2023 relating to proposals for the restoration of places of worship that have been affected by the violence in Manipur.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK Government is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all and promoting respect and tolerance between different religious and non-religious communities. We have a broad and deep partnership with the Government of India and we discuss all elements of our relationship, including our concerns where we have them. During his visit to India in May 2023, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia, discussed FoRB with the Government of India, leaders of faith groups and others, and raised the current situation in Manipur with the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs. The UK's diplomatic network in India will continue to engage on FoRB and to closely monitor the situation in Manipur.

Ethiopia: Somaliland

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) Somaliland, (b) Somalia, (c) Ethiopia and (d) the African Union on the Memorandum of Understanding between Ethiopia and Somaliland.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The FCDO has noted the announcement of a Memorandum of Understanding between Ethiopia and Somaliland, which suggests that Ethiopia will recognise Somaliland's independence in return for the lease of territory. We are concerned by escalating tensions in the Horn of Africa and are engaging with all relevant parties through our posts in the region to call for calm and encourage dialogue. The UK has reaffirmed its respect for Somalia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Tigray: Internally Displaced People

Deidre Brock: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if his Department will make representations to the Ethiopian Government to allow internally displaced Tigrayans to return.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The former Foreign Secretary welcomed the November 2022 peace agreement between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, when he visited Ethiopia in December 2022. There are no formal restrictions on internally displaced persons returning, however some areas of Tigray are under the control of regional militias or Eritrean forces. Ministers and the British Embassy Addis Ababa repeatedly raise the need for withdrawal of militias and foreign forces, including through a public statement in August 2023.

Ethiopia: Politics and Government

Deidre Brock: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to his counterpart in the Ethiopian Government on fully implementing the Pretoria Peace Agreement.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The former Foreign Secretary welcomed the November 2022 peace agreement between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, when he visited Ethiopia in December 2022. Since then, the UK has welcomed progress on implementation such as the handing over of heavy weapons, the establishment of a Tigray Interim Regional Administration, and the development of a comprehensive transitional justice policy. We continue to offer the UK's support, including for the successful implementation of the transitional justice policy. HM Ambassador to Ethiopia last year announced funding for the African Union's monitoring, verification and compliance mechanism to support the implementation of the Pretoria peace deal. Ministers and the British Embassy Addis Ababa continue to raise the importance of this issue with interlocutors in the Ethiopian Government.

Tigray: Famine

Deidre Brock: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is providing emergency humanitarian assistance to help avert famine in Tigray.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Internal conflict, drought, and economic challenges are exacerbating humanitarian crises across Ethiopia. Famine risk in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia increases as these factors are prolonged and if the international community does not expand humanitarian and development assistance. The UK recently increased our health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and protection programming across northern Ethiopia, including in Tigray. Since 2019, the UK has allocated more than £400 million to tackle humanitarian crises in Ethiopia.

International Development Association: Finance

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what his planned timetable is for the allocation of the £1.4 billion pledge to the International Development Association's replenishment fund.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK has committed £1.4 billion to the World Bank's International Development Association 20th (IDA20) replenishment. We will fund this by depositing promissory notes within the IDA20 cycle, which ends on 30 June 2025. The promissory notes will be encashed by the World Bank quarterly, for 6 years, starting from January 2025 and with the last encashment expected to be in April 2031. The UK has already made its first promissory note deposit to IDA20 in December 2023.

Bilateral Aid: Gender Based Violence

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2024 to Question 8417 on Bilateral Aid: Gender Based Violence, how much bilateral aid spending (a) his Department and (b) the predecessor Department has used to tackle violence against women and girls in each year since 2010.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Ending violence against women and girls overseas remains a top priority for FCDO. Please find a summary of bilateral spend in (a) Foreign, Commonwealth and Development and (b) Department for International Development (DFID) from 2016 - 2022. The sector code '15180', which is used to track spend on ending violence against women and girls, was first created in 2016 with governments only able to report against it since then. The figures presented are likely to be an underestimation as some humanitarian and other sectoral programmes also work to prevent and respond to violence, but are not captured.(£) Millions 2016201720182019202020212022Department for International Development (DFID)1.911.318.329.225.0  Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)2.8 0.04Total for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)4.811.318.329.225.014.269.0Source: [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/statistics-on-international-development]

Israel: Gaza

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on the number of (a) aid workers and (b) journalists who have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The safety of humanitarian personnel and healthcare workers in Gaza is critical to enable aid to reach those who need it most. We also recognise the valuable role of journalists operating on the ground in Gaza, providing important coverage of the conflict in incredibly challenging circumstances. We continue to call for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to be respected; under IHL, journalists covering conflicts and humanitarian aid workers should be afforded protection. As the Foreign Secretary has said, there must be a reduction in civilian casualties and Israel must take greater care to limit its operations to military targets. The Prime Minister has made this clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu repeatedly and has been in close contact throughout.

Israel: Foreign Relations

Ms Anum Qaisar: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many meetings he has had with the Israeli Ambassador since 13 November 2023.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We continue to engage closely and regularly with a range of senior Israeli officials. Since the outbreak of the conflict on 7 October, the Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely has had two meetings with Foreign Office Ministers. The Ambassador spoke with Lord Ahmad, Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, on 10 October. She also attended a meeting on 24 October between former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and the families of those taken hostage by Hamas.

Palestinians: Humanitarian Aid

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure that adequate aid is being allowed into Palestine.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK has trebled its aid commitment for this financial year and is working closely with partners in international agencies and in the region to get aid to where it is desperately needed.We played a leading role in securing the passage of Security Council resolution 2720, which set out the urgent demand for expanded humanitarian access, and supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza, with 750 metric tons of life-saving food aid arriving in the first delivery. The Foreign Secretary continues to discuss and press for the action that needs to be taken to increase aid to Gaza in his regular calls with his Israeli, Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, US and Palestinian Authority counterparts. The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mark Bryson-Richardson, is based in the region and working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.

Gaza: Hospitals

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help protect (a) hospitals, (b) medical staff and (c) civilians in Gaza.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, but it must comply with International Humanitarian Law; including the protection of hospitals, civilians, and medical staff. We want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians and destroying homes. The UK trebled our aid commitment this financial year and is doing everything it can do to get more aid in and open more crossings.

Department for Business and Trade

Post Offices: Closures

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to take steps to help restore post offices that closed as a result of Horizon programme failures.

Kevin Hollinrake: To address the Horizon scandal, the Government is focused on ensuring justice for those wrongly convicted and delivering financial compensation to all those affected.In parallel, the Post Office has the freedom to deliver the branch network within the parameters Government sets. As such, Government does not intervene in decisions relating to managing the branch network at a local level.More broadly, the post office network is not in decline and in fact, more post offices opened last year than closed, and the network is as large today as it has been for five years.

Veterans: Fireworks

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of the correspondence sent to her Department by Help for Heroes and Combat Stress on 1 November 2023 on the potential impact of the private use of fireworks on armed forces veterans; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to further restrict the (a) sale and (b) use of fireworks.

Kevin Hollinrake: Following correspondence from Help for Heroes and Combat Stress in November 2023, officials in the Department recently met with representatives from the organisations to discuss the impact of fireworks on armed forces veterans. We agreed to continue engagement on this matter going forward.Whilst the Government has no current plans to introduce further legislation on fireworks, we continue to monitor the situation and engage with a wide range of stakeholders to listen to and understand their views.

Department for Business and Trade: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many equalities impact assessments her Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Greg Hands: Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (the Duty) all public authorities, including Government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. While ‘equality impact assessments’ may be produced, there is no legal requirement for Duty assessments to be recorded in a specific format.The Department promotes awareness of the Duty as well as relevant analytical and other tools to help ensure compliance with the Duty in departmental decision making.

Oil: Russia

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an estimate of how much oil from Russia which has been refined in India has been imported as jet fuel since February 2022.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: In line with WTO rules of origin, Russian oil which has been substantially processed (refined) in a third country is no longer considered to be of Russian origin.

Arms Trade: Export Controls

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Answer of 8 July 2002 to Question 67534 on Export Licences, whether the guidance on incorporation of British weaponry components is still current; whether that guidance has been (a) updated or (b) modified; and whether it was consulted during the review of (i) extant and (ii) pending licence applications to Israel since October 2023.

Greg Hands: The Government takes its defence export responsibilities extremely seriously and operates some of the most robust export controls in the world. All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (the Criteria). The Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework, and the Export Control Joint Unit will not issue an export licence to any destination where to do so would be inconsistent with the Criteria, including where there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL). This includes licences where UK components are sent to a third country for incorporation into another product which is then supplied to the final destination. All our export licences are kept under careful and continual review, and we are able to amend, suspend or revoke extant licences, as well as refuse new licence applications, where they are inconsistent with the Criteria.

Ministry of Justice

Prosecutions

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 9 May 2023 to Question 183405 on Prosecutions, how many people were prosecuted under the single justice procedure in each month of 2023 broken down by offence; and what the plea rates were for offences charged under the single justice procedure in each month of 2023.

Mike Freer: Data showing the number of defendants dealt with via single justice procedures (SJP) notices at the magistrates’ courts by plea and offence in England and Wales from January to September 2023 (latest available) can be found in the attached table. Data for October-December will not be available until the March publication.The data supplied is a subset of published information relating to the timeliness of defendants dealt with by SJP notice which is available in Table T1 of the Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly, latest to September 2023.The SJP is a more proportionate way of dealing with straightforward, uncontested, summary-only non-imprisonable offences. It allows those who plead guilty to low-level, non-imprisonable crimes to resolve their case without going to court, either online or in writing. Defendants always have the option of going to court, even when they plead guilty. Magistrates can choose to hear such cases in open court where they feel the case is more complex and would benefit from an open court hearing.Many cases disposed of through the SJP process are prosecuted by third-party agencies, for example TV Licensing, DVLA, local authorities and transport authorities, which reflects the nature of the offences which fall within the SJP criteria. Prosecutors using this method of initiating proceedings have developed procedures for identifying those who may need additional support. Support channels are also available to users who require clarification ranging from web chat or telephone assistance to face-to-face assistance.PQ10618_table (xlsx, 49.7KB)

Domestic Violence: Trials

Sarah Dyke: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) witnesses and (b) complainants in domestic violence cases involving (i) lengthy court proceedings and (ii) pressure from the defendant to change or withdraw their statement.

Laura Farris: The Government recognises the vital role that support services play in helping victims of domestic abuse during their engagement with the criminal justice system. This is why we are using additional ringfenced funding to increase the number of Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) to over 1000 by 2024/2025 – a 43% increase on the number of advisors over this spending review period. The magistrates’ court hears over 90% of criminal cases and we continue to hear over 100,000 cases every month. Cases continue to move swiftly through the magistrates’ court with cases heard taking 31 days on average from charge to case completion. However, we recognise that some court proceedings may be lengthy, and that this can be difficult for victims and witnesses. The Witness Service is available to witnesses in all criminal courts in England and Wales and this service provides practical and emotional support to witnesses of crimes throughout court proceedings. The intimidation of a witness with the intention of obstructing, perverting or interfering with the course of justice is a criminal offence. Police and prosecutors are also encouraged to develop robust evidence-led case strategies from the start, so that where victims are absent because they are unable or do not want to support a prosecution, the case can still proceed.

Domestic Abuse: Victim Support Schemes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to increase the level of support available to victims of domestic abuse who are waiting for their trials to begin.

Laura Farris: We are doing more than ever to ensure victims continue to receive the support they need as we work hard to ensure swift justice. The Government recognises that support services play a vital role, and that Independent Domestic Violence Advisors can be critical to helping victims of domestic abuse at all stages of the criminal justice system. This includes when they are waiting for their trial to begin. We are quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25, up from £41m in 2009/10. The funding will allow us to increase the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisers by 300 to over 1,000, a 43% increase over this spending review period (2022/23 to 2024/25 inclusive). To ensure that there is clarity on what victims can and should expect from the criminal justice system response, on 8 November 2023 we reintroduced the Victims and Prisoners Bill, alongside a wider package of measures designed to improve victims' experiences of the criminal justice system.

Family Proceedings: Dispute Resolution

Sarah Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of family disputes resolved outside of court in instances where it is safe and appropriate to do so.

Mike Freer: The Government is committed to helping more parents resolve their issues earlier and without coming to court, where this is safe and appropriate.In March 2021, the Government launched the Mediation Voucher Scheme to help families to access mediation and resolve their issues away from the family court. As of 18 January 2024, 24,379 vouchers have been issued and we are now investing up to £23.6m in the scheme, which we expect to see continue to March 2025.In March 2023, the Government published a consultation asking for views on proposals to support families to reach agreements earlier and without court involvement, where appropriate to do so. The Government response to this consultation, setting out our plans for reform in this area, will be published imminently.

Marriage

Sarah Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government is taking steps to raise awareness of the legal distinctions between (a) marriage, (b) civil partnership and (c) cohabiting.

Sarah Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to review or reform legislation on the rights of cohabitating partners.

Mike Freer: It is important that people are aware of the legal distinctions between getting married, forming a civil partnership and living together as cohabitants. The Government has already taken steps in this area. The Department for Education’s statutory guidance on relationships education includes the need for schools to ensure that pupils are aware of what marriage is, including its legal status and the legal status of other types of long-term relationship. The Government is also reviewing the information currently available to the public on the legal rights afforded to spouses, civil partners, and cohabiting couples.The Government considers that existing work underway on the law of marriage and divorce, which are directly relevant to issues concerning cohabitants, must conclude before considering any change to the law in respect of the rights of cohabitants on relationship breakdown.

Department for Transport

Active Travel: Wokingham

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has provided to Wokingham Borough Council for active travel projects in the (a) 2022-3 and (b) 2023-4 financial year.

Guy Opperman: In the 2022/23 financial year, Active Travel England awarded Wokingham Borough Council £127,359 of revenue funding through the Capability Fund and £606,215 of capital funding through the fourth tranche of the Active Travel Fund. So far in 23/24, Wokingham Borough Council has been awarded £63,680 through the Capability Fund. Capital funding for 23/24 is yet to be agreed.

Railways: Cullompton and Wellington

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 71 of the policy paper entitled Network North, published on 4 October 2023, whether the Wellington-Cullompton line has entered the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline; what the project’s Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment stage is; when approval was granted to enter that stage; and whether entry to the next stage will be granted.

Huw Merriman: The Wellington and Cullompton project has entered the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline and is currently working towards completion of Engineering Stage 4. The project will deliver two new stations at Wellington and Cullompton, on the existing Bristol to Exeter line. Contractors have been engaged and work to produce a Full Business Case is expected to be completed in 2024.

Railways: Cullompton and Wellington

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the policy paper entitled Network North, published on 4 October 2023, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) cost of and (b) completion date for the proposed reopening of the Wellington-Cullompton line.

Huw Merriman: Contractors have been engaged and work to produce a Full Business Case for new stations at Wellington and Cullompton is expected to be completed in 2024. The current anticipated cost of the project to deliver both stations is estimated to be £34m. These estimates remain subject to change as the project develops. More detail on cost and completion date will be included as part of the Full Business Case.

High Speed 2 Line: Euston Station

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Euston Quarter development referred to in Network North, whether that project has entered the Rail network enhancements pipeline; what the project's Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment stage is as of 16 January 2024; when approval was granted to enter that stage; and whether entry to the next stage will be granted.

Huw Merriman: Following the Network North announcement on 4 October 2023, we are upping the ambition of the Euston redevelopment, to create a transformed ‘Euston Quarter’. We are going to deliver a reduced 6-platform HS2 station, which can accommodate the HS2 trains we will run to Birmingham and onwards and which best supports regeneration of the local area. We will update Parliament on the progress on developing the proposal for the Euston Quarter, including providing updated schedule and costs estimates, through our regular six-monthly reports. While the new HS2 station and associated ‘Euston Quarter’ development does not form part of the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP), the first phase of the Redevelopment of Euston Conventional Station (RECS) will remain part of the RNEP Portfolio. This first phase of RECS focuses on redeveloping and expanding the existing Network Rail station concourse to meet forecast future demand.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Electronic Cigarettes

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is his Department's policy to reduce the availability of disposable vapes.

Robbie Moore: The UK Government, Scotland and Wales are considering restrictions on the sale and supply of disposable vaping products (including non-nicotine vapes), including prohibiting the sale of these products, due to the environmental impacts of disposable vapes. Northern Ireland will consider measures relating to disposable vapes following this consultation. The consultation closed on 6 December and we are currently analysing the feedback we received. We will publish our response in due course.

Electronic Cigarettes: Waste Disposal

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote the proper disposal of disposable vaping products.

Robbie Moore: Householders can take unwanted vapes (and other electrical equipment) to designated collection facilities (typically household waste recycling centres operated by local authorities) or retailers on purchase of new vapes free of charge. The cost of the collection, transport and subsequent treatment and recycling of that waste is financed by manufacturers and importers of those products. Householders can also take their used vapes to retailers when they buy new ones. Retailers are required to provide take-back systems to customers and ensure they are sent for onward treatment.

Fluorinated Gases: Regulation

Mark Pawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's planned timescale is for the (a) consultation and (b) review of F gas regulations.

Robbie Moore: We undertook a joint review of the GB F gas Regulation and published our assessment report in December 2022 (available online). We are now in the process of developing policy proposals for reform and intend to consult on these in due course.

Internal Drainage Boards: Fees and Charges

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to reform the funding of internal drainage board levies.

Robbie Moore: The Government remains committed to the important work that internal drainage boards (IDBs) undertake. IDBs are independent statutory public bodies, mainly funded by the beneficiaries of their work, as set out in the Land Drainage Act 1991. This is divided between farmers / landowners (who pay drainage rates) and local authorities (who pay a special levy) and is proportionate to the land classification in the IDB area.  The Government provided additional one-off funding to 15 councils in 2023 in respect of the significant additional pressure caused by energy costs on IDB special levies. The government remains in contact with the sector. There is currently a technical barrier to the creation of new and expansion of existing IDBs. The Government has amended the Land Drainage Act 1991, via the Environment Act 2021, to remove this barrier. This enables new updated valuation calculations for IDBs to use in apportioning their expenses between drainage rates and special levies to be included in secondary legislation. We will aim to implement the statutory instrument as soon as possible, pending the outcome of the consultation which we hope to launch shortly.

Water Supply: Greater London

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure London has a safe and sustainable water supply; and what steps he is taking to help minimise the environmental impact of London's water supply.

Robbie Moore: Defra works closely with water companies, including Thames Water, to ensure that they meet their regulatory requirements in relation to security and resilience as set out on the Security and Emergency Measures Direction (SEMD) 2022 – including preparedness for short-term risks. Defra published its Plan for Water which set out the importance of ensuring a clean and plentiful water supply. It estimated 4,000 million litres per day of extra capacity is needed in England by 2050 to sustainably meet the pressures on public supply from climate change, population growth and the needs of a healthy environment. The Plan sets out our commitment to a twin track approach to improving water supply resilience, with action to reduce water company leaks alongside investing in new supply infrastructure. Last year, regional water resources groups and water companies, including Thames Water, consulted on their draft water resources plans. These statutory plans set out how each company will secure water supplies sustainably for at least the next 25 years. Within their plans, water companies consider all options, including water demand management and new water resources infrastructure. The plans are scrutinised by water regulators and the Environment Agency is advising the Secretary of State’s decisions on the next steps for the plans. Drinking water quality in England is of an exceptionally high standard and among the best in the world. Water companies have a statutory duty to carry out regular risk assessments and sampling for any substance that may pose a risk to human health to make sure that drinking water supplies remain safe to drink. The Drinking Water Inspectorate monitor water companies’ compliance with our drinking water regulations and, where necessary, take enforcement action.

Flood Control: Planning

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of effectiveness of the Government's Resilience Framework in help to reduce flooding in high-risk areas.

Robbie Moore: In December 2023 the Government published an implementation update for the UK Government Resilience Framework, outlining the implementation progress to date in delivering commitments in the Framework. This included the Government investing £5.2 billion in the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Capital Programme running from 2021 to 2027 and an additional £200 million being invested in the Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme running from 2021 to 2027. As part of this, from September 2023, a further three communities in England have been included in the Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme. On the 5 April 2023, the Government also announced the first communities in England to benefit from the Government’s £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance.

River Mersey: Pollution

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many pollutant discharges into the River Mersey have been reported to the Environment Agency in each of the past five years.

Robbie Moore: There have been 56 pollution discharges to the River Mersey that have been substantiated by the Environment Agency in the last five years. In 2019 there were 15 reported incidents, in 2020 eight reported incidents, in 2021 five reported incidents, in 2022 ten reported incidents and in 2023 18 reported incidents. In all instances where a polluter was identified, action was taken in line with the Environment Agency’s Enforcement and Sanctions policy.

Coastal Erosion: Compensation

Sir Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will undertake a review of the adequacy of the level of financial support it makes available to people who have lost properties due to coastal erosion.

Robbie Moore: Coastal erosion is a longstanding process which is the natural way in which coasts evolve over time. There is no right to compensation for damage from flooding or coastal erosion since these are natural processes. The Coastal Erosion Assistance Grant (CEAG) provides £6,000 per property to assist local authorities with the demolition and removal costs associated with homes at imminent risk from coastal erosion. The Environment Agency administer the CEAG on behalf of Defra. Our £5.2 billion programme includes £1.3bn in defences for the coast between April 2021 and March 2027. This is subject to ongoing discussions between Ministers and the EA regarding the revised programme. It is not always sustainable or affordable to defend every part of our coastline in the face of a changing climate which is enhancing the coastal erosion process. This is why we have allocated £36m over 6 years, for the ‘Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme’ (CTAP) to support communities in coastal areas at significant risk of coastal erosion. This will explore approaches to enabling transition and adaptation in our changing climate. North Norfolk is part of this programme as they have proportionally the highest number of properties at risk from coastal erosion in England. Learning from this programme will help inform and prepare other coastal communities and risk management authorities for flooding and coastal change in the future. As part of CTAP, local areas will be exploring the availability and role of financial products or services that can help people or businesses in communities most at risk of coastal erosion.

Electronic Cigarettes: Waste Disposal

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce the environmental impact of disposable vaping products.

Robbie Moore: On 12 October 2023 the Government launched a consultation on smoking and youth vaping. As part of this consultation, the UK government and devolved administrations considering restrictions on the sale and supply of disposable vape products (including non-nicotine vapes) – including prohibiting the sale of these products – due to the environmental impacts of disposable vapes. The consultation has now closed and we are currently analysing the feedback we received. We will be publishing our response in due course.

Water Abstraction: Teddington

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with representatives of (a) Thames Water and (b) local authorities in west London on Thames Water's proposed planning application for the Teddington direct river abstraction.

Robbie Moore: Thames Water has a statutory duty to consult with local authorities and water regulators on its Water Resources Management Plan, a long-term strategy for securing water supplies. The plan is further assessed by Government and water regulators before it can be finalised. The Teddington Direct River Abstraction (DRA) is part of this plan, and following robust review, the Secretary of State issued a direction on 22 December 2023 confirming the project is nationally significant. However, this does not indicate that a Development Consent Order (DCO), which is required before construction can proceed, is more or less likely to be approved. When a DCO application is made, local authorities will have a key role in providing a local perspective on the proposals.

Air Pollution

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will adopt the World Health Organisation's guidelines on the maximum permissible levels of pollutants, published in September 2021, in the context of research published by the University of Dundee on the impact of air pollution on hospital admissions for respiratory disease among children.

Robbie Moore: The World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines are intended to inform the setting of air quality standards and are not ready-made targets for adoption. We recently set two new stretching and achievable targets for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) under the Environment Act 2021, following an evidence-based process informed by the WHO Guidelines. We are working towards delivering these targets as set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 and Air Quality Strategy, which will have significant public health benefits, including for children.

Water: Solihull

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve water quality in Solihull constituency.

Robbie Moore: Rivers in the West Midlands urban centres are affected by historical industrial development and physical modification of water courses and food plains. The Environment Agency (EA) has generously contributed to funding Warwickshire Wildlife’s Tame Valley Wetlands project. Working alongside Natural England, the project will enhance biodiversity and improve the ecological status of the River Blythe by creating a wide range of habitats on over 140 hectares of land within the River Blythe SSSI (Site of special Scientific Interest). The restoration work will include bank re-profiling, floodplain reconnection, in-channel habitat creation, invasive species management and the creation of new terrestrial habitats to enhance biodiversity. Nationally, the Government published the Plan for Water in April 2023 – our comprehensive strategy for managing our water environment, including our rivers. It brings together the significant steps we have already taken with a suite of new policy actions. The Plan is underpinned by Increased investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement.

Firewood: Air Pollution

Keir Mather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken with (a) the Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities and (b) local authorities to increase public awareness of the environmental impacts of domesticwoodburning.

Robbie Moore: Defra works closely with local authorities on all matters pertaining to air quality, including through providing relevant training and resources. Local authorities are also able to bid for funding for projects to tackle emissions in their communities through our annual Local Air Quality Grant. We have committed to spend at least £6million on such projects this year.

Members: Correspondence

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of (a) 22 September, (b) 23 October, (c) 23 November and (d) 21 December 2023 from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay, case reference JB42936 and MC2023/18620.

Robbie Moore: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 23 January 2024. On behalf of the Department, I sincerely apologise for the delay.

Home Office

Handguns

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help prevent the conversion of handguns that are designed to fire blanks into guns which can fire live rounds.

Chris Philp: This Government is committed to tackling the threat posed by the illegal trafficking and misuse of firearms. This includes making it harder for criminals to access blank firing weapons and preventing these devices being converted for criminal use.Under the Firearms Act 1968, for anyone other than a registered firearms dealer, it is an offence to convert blank firers to lethal purpose.The Home Office works closely with the National Crime Agency to reduce the threat posed by converted blank firearms. This includes reviewing relevant legislation, working with manufacturers to make blank firearms harder to covert, and supporting police forces to tackle the threat from converted blank firearms.

British National (Overseas): Pensions

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2023 to Question 5408, if he will publish his Department's communications with the Hong Kong authorities on facilitating early drawdown of pension funds.

Tom Pursglove: The UK firmly opposes the discrimination that British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) status holders are facing in applying for early withdrawal of their pension funds held by the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) in Hong Kong.All representations to the Hong Kong authorities have been made via the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office or the Department for Business and Trade.

Immigration Controls: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any personnel have been deployed in Northern Ireland under Operation Gull in the last 12 months.

Tom Pursglove: Operation Gull is an intelligence led operation and deployments have been made in the last 12 months on that basis.

Visas: Palestinians

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a Palestinian Visa scheme based upon the Ukraine Visa scheme that allows those with family in the UK to be given safe passage.

Tom Pursglove: The UK Government is monitoring the situation in Israel and Gaza closely to ensure that it is able to respond appropriately.We recognise that some people impacted by the events in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories may wish to join family in the UK. The Government is working with authorities across the region to facilitate the repatriation of British citizens and their family members who already hold permission to come to the UK.There are currently no plans to introduce bespoke arrangements for people arriving from the region who do not hold permission to come to the UK.

Lincolnshire Police: Finance

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much and what proportion of the funding for the national rural crime unit will be allocated to Lincolnshire Police in each of the next five years.

Chris Philp: The Government is committed to driving down rural crime. Whether someone lives in the countryside or a town or city, they should get the same service from the police if they fall victim to a crime.The Home Office has provided £200,000 funding this financial year to help set up the National Rural Crime Unit, with an additional £100,000 from DEFRA. The National Rural Crime Unit has secured over £1m of funding from industry for the next three financial years, including from NFU Mutual, Network Rail and Construction and Equipment Association.The National Rural Crime Unit aims to help police forces tackle rural crime priorities through the provision of specialist operational support, as well as through sharing best practice and encouraging regional and national approaches to tackling rural crime. Funding provided by the Government for the National Rural Crime Unit is not allocated to individual forces.

Asylum: Hotels

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hotels are in use as asylum seeker accommodation as of 19 January 2024.

Tom Pursglove: As a result of the range of measures we have implemented to stop the boats, reform the management of the asylum accommodation estate and the delivery of alternative forms of accommodation sites, we are now able to stop the procurement of new asylum hotels and begin the first phase of hotel exits. 50 hotels are due to be closed by the end of January and many more in the coming months.Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).

Asylum: Hotels

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people awaiting a decision on an asylum application are accommodated in hotels in the UK as of 16 January 2023.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on applications awaiting an initial decision is published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum applications, decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’.Separately, data on asylum seekers in receipt of support, including those accommodated in hotels, is published in table Asy_D09 of the ‘Asylum support’ detailed datasets. Asy_D09 will also include those on support who have already had a decision.The latest data relates to 30 September 2023. The data shows a snapshot as at the last day of the quarter. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of each workbook.More recent provisional data on the number of applications awaiting an initial decision can be found in table IMB_02 of the Statistics relating to Illegal Migration publication. The latest data relates to 28 December 2023. This data is not directly comparable with that published in the Immigration Systems Statistics as it will contain some duplicates.Finalised data on applications awaiting a decision and asylum seekers in hotel accommodation as of 31 December 2023 is due to be published on 29 February 2024.Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

British National (Overseas): Pensions

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) HSBC and (b) Standard Chartered on the impact of their policies on not recognising the British National (Overseas) passport as a valid document on the ability of Hong Kongers with a British National (Overseas) passport to access their pensions.

Tom Pursglove: We are aware of the difficulties British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) status holders are experiencing in seeking early withdrawal of their pension held by the Mandatory Provident Fund in Hong Kong. The root of the problem is the Chinese Government's decision not to recognise the BN(O) passport as a valid identity document in Hong Kong.The Government firmly opposes the discrimination of BN(O)s in this way and will continue to urge the Hong Kong authorities and all relevant bodies to facilitate early drawdown of funds as is the case for other Hong Kong residents who move overseas permanently. The conduct of UK banking institutions is not a matter for the Home Office, but I have asked my officials to raise this matter with HM Treasury.

Hate Crime: Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle hate crime against LGBT+ people (a) nationally and (b) in Hull West and Hessle.

Laura Farris: There has been an overall reduction in police-recorded hate crime in the year ending March 2023, including a 6% reduction in sexual orientation hate crimes. Whilst an 11% increase in transgender hate crime was seen, and this may partly be due to a genuine rise, the biggest driver is likely to be general improvements in police recording along with increased victim willingness to come forward. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. Part of this necessitates police recruitment and training – that is why we have the highest number of police officers on record in England and Wales. Humberside now has 2,294 officers (headcount as at 31 March 2023), the highest number ever. Funding for Humberside will be £252.6 million in 2024/25, an increase of up to £15.5 million when compared to 2023/24. The Home Office continues to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of all forms of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We also fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to provide expert advice to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime. The Government is providing over £3m of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024, to five anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting hate-related bullying and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic based bullying.

Radicalism

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to respond to the legal review by the Commission for Countering Extremism entitled Operating with impunity, published on 24 February 2021.

Tom Tugendhat: The Commission for Countering Extremism provides valuable advice and expertise to my department and across Government on how to raise awareness and understanding of extremist ideologies so that we can tackle radicalisation and extremist activity.Since the Operating with Impunity report was published in early 2021, there have been a number of changes to strengthen the Government’s approach to tackling extremism.We continue to consider the recommendations made in the Operating with Impunity report in our work to counter extremism in the United Kingdom.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any Afghan refugees were (a) placed in and (b) returned to bridging hotels in the period since September 2023.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many new arrivals from Afghanistan have been placed in bridging hotels since September 2023.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from Afghanistan are living in bridging hotels.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the (a) earliest date and (b) longest continuous period that anyone from Afghanistan has been accommodated in a bridging hotel.

Tom Pursglove: The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help at-risk people in Afghanistan and, so far, we have brought around 24,600 people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan schemes. We continue to honour our commitments to bring eligible Afghans to the UK.As of 31 August 2023, we successfully ended the use of bridging hotels for legally resettled Afghans, with the overwhelming majority of those being resettled now having moved into settled accommodation. We have now provided these Afghans with the homes they need to begin the next chapter of their life in the UK, fully integrate, find employment and provide their children with stability.Whilst we cannot confirm the longest length of stay in bridging accommodation, our statistics show that the earliest record of an Afghan in bridging accommodation was in the second quarter of 2021.The Home Office publish data on Afghan resettlement in the Immigration System Statistics release. In table Asy_D02 of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets, you can view the number of Afghans resettled, by when they arrived in the UK (quarterly breakdowns) and what type of accommodation they were recorded in as of the date of the data extraction (currently the data is as of 30 September 2023). The next Immigration Statistics are due for release around 22 February 2024.

Asylum: Rwanda

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will have discussions with the Leader of the House on ensuring parliamentary time to (a) debate and (b) vote on the Government’s treaty with Rwanda within the timeframe outlined in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act.

Tom Pursglove: The Government places great importance in providing opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny. We have sought to provide this opportunity during various parliamentary activity, but most notably as part of the passage of the Bill which is intrinsically linked and gives legal effect to the treaty. Most recently, we have had the two days of Commons Committee stage (Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 January) on the floor of House, allowing members to scrutinise this policy. We look forward to debating all aspects of the Bill as it is scrutinised by both Houses.

Asylum: Rwanda

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will hold discussions with the Leader of the House on making time for a (a) debate and (b) vote on the Government’s treaty with Rwanda before 31 January 2024.

Tom Pursglove: The Government places great importance in providing opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny. We have sought to provide this opportunity during various parliamentary activity, but most notably as part of the passage of the Bill which is intrinsically linked and gives legal effect to the treaty. Most recently, we have had the two days of Commons Committee stage (Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 January) on the floor of House, allowing members to scrutinise this policy. We look forward to debating all aspects of the Bill as it is scrutinised by both Houses.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Energy: Wales

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the energy mix in (a) Newport West and (b) Wales.

Andrew Bowie: Given energy moves between different parts of the UK to balance supply and demand, the Department assesses the adequacy of the energy mix on a national basis. The annual Statutory Security of Supply Report 2023 (December 2023) concludes that Great Britain is anticipated to maintain adequate supplies of electricity and gas to meet consumers’ demands over the short- and long- term. UK Energy Mix for2022Coal2%Primary oils34%Natural gas38%Bioenergy & waste10%Primary electricity11%Other4%Source DUKES 1.1  Source: DUKES Table 1.1, Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (DUKES) Chapter 1, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 24 Aug. 2023

Solar Power: Archaeological Sites

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will consider the potential merits of delaying trial trenching for ground-mounted solar projects until after consent has been granted.

Andrew Bowie: Planning guidance on assessing potential impacts of large-scale solar projects on the historic environment is set out in the recently published Energy National Policy Statements. In most cases, applicants are required to seek expert assessment. Where assessments include investigative work, such as trial trenching, this should be proportionate. Conducting this work during the pre-application planning phase enables developers to take into account findings and, if necessary, mitigate impacts by adapting project design at an early stage. It provides a robust evidence base to support decision making, helping to avoid delays after applications have been submitted or post consent.

Sellafield: Radioactive Waste

Allan Dorans: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to help monitor radioactive contamination levels from Sellafield nuclear plant; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of this work on marine life along the coastline of South West Scotland.

Andrew Bowie: Safety is our overriding priority at Sellafield. The annual environmental monitoring and dose assessment reports from Sellafield Ltd and the annual Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) reports produced by the environmental regulators (including the Scottish Environment Protection Agency) provide comprehensive assessments of the impacts of discharges from the Sellafield site to the environment. The RIFE report for 2022 shows that total radioactive discharges from Sellafield decreased in 2022 as compared to 2021. Their assessments are based on the extensive environmental monitoring programmes conducted by the operators and regulators and both programmes are conclusive that the environmental impacts of the Sellafield site are within legal limits. This work is subject to independent scrutiny through the Department of Health and Social Care Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment Contaminations working group and the West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group.

Sizewell C Power Station: Capital Investment

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what target her Department has set for the level of private equity finance to be raised for Sizewell C; how much equity has been committed (a) in total and (b) by EDF; what deadline there is for the conclusion of the private equity-raising process; and whether her Department has set a maximum level of equity that it will commit to this project.

Andrew Bowie: The equity raise process for the Sizewell C process is ongoing and commercially sensitive – the Government cannot comment on these matters at this stage.

Carbon Emissions

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what progress she has made on meeting the 2015 net zero targets.

Graham Stuart: The UK has met all its carbon budgets to date. The Government is committed to its carbon budgets and Nationally Determined Contribution, which keep the UK on track to meet net zero in 2050.

Power Stations: Timber

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she plans to seek approval from Parliament before taking a decision on burning of wood in UK power stations after 2027.

Andrew Bowie: Government is currently consulting on potential arrangements to help facilitate the transition of large-scale biomass generation to power bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. Responses to the consultation will help to inform government policy on this matter. As set out in the consultation, a potential support mechanism is expected to require secondary legislation which would be brought to Parliament as part of the legislative process.

Energy: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions she has had with energy companies on reducing the time taken for all households to receive the £600 payment to help households in Northern Ireland with their energy bills during winter 2022-2023.

Amanda Solloway: The Energy Bills Support Scheme and Alternative Fuel Payment Northern Ireland delivered a £600 support payment to households who had a domestic electricity supply in Northern Ireland for winter 2022-2023. This scheme was delivered by energy suppliers, with payments being delivered in different ways depending on how customers paid for their energy. All payments have now been delivered by energy suppliers in Northern Ireland, and if customers believe they were eligible but have not received this support, I recommend they contact their electricity supplier.

Diesel: Costs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on reducing the cost of diesel.

Amanda Solloway: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on a number of issues. The Government is committed to ensuring drivers get a fair deal for fuel and has launched a consultation on the PumpWatch scheme which will require petrol-filling stations to share price information within 30 minutes of a change. This will drive down prices by reigniting competition and empowering drivers to find the best deals. Road fuels prices are down over three consecutive months. Petrol prices are now at a level not seen since mid-October 2021 following our work to bring transparency to the market.

Wylfa Power Station: Land

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will take steps to purchase the Wylfa site land from Hitachi.

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if her Department will undertake a valuation of the land Hitachi owns at Wylfa.

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will take steps to acquire the Intellectual Property for the proposed advanced boiling water reactor development at Wylfa from Hitachi.

Andrew Bowie: Wylfa is a candidate for new nuclear and one of a number of potential sites that could host civil nuclear projects. As a first step towards developing the new nuclear National Policy Statement, the Government is consulting on a proposed way forward for determining how new nuclear developments might be located. Separately, Great British Nuclear is working with Government to support access to potential sites for new nuclear projects. Given the NPS consultation and any discussion regarding sites would be commercially sensitive, it is too early to say more on any approach to specific sites.

Electricians: Training

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she is taking steps to help increase the number of skilled electricians able to support the (a) installation and (b) maintenance of low-carbon technologies.

Amanda Solloway: Government will publish the Green Jobs Plan in the first half of 2024. This will outline the actions government and industry will take to ensure we have the skilled workforce at the right time and place, to deliver our net zero, nature, and energy security targets. We are aware of the need to increase the number of appropriately skilled electricians for installation and maintenance of low carbon technologies. The Green Jobs Delivery Group is utilising workforce assessments to understand the scale of demand in different sectors; actions are being developed to address this demand within the Green Jobs Plan.

Electricity Generation: Contracts

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will publish (a) the estimated cost to the public purse of contracts for difference payments to electricity generators in financial year 2022-23 and (b) the actual (i) cost and (ii) savings to the public purse of contracts for difference payments to electricity generators in financial year 2022-23.

Andrew Bowie: The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme is funded by the Supplier Obligation, a statutory levy on all GB-based licensed electricity suppliers. Typically, we expect these costs to be passed through from suppliers to consumers via electricity bills. The Office for Budget Responsibility publishes outturn and forecast of Environmental Levies, which includes the Contracts for Difference Scheme. In the year 2022-23, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the outturn cost of the scheme was -£0.1 billion, i.e. a saving to electricity consumers.

Renewable Energy: Archaeological Sites

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of different electricity generation technologies on archaeological sites; and whether she has plans to ensure that such factors are taken into account in trial trenching requirements.

Andrew Bowie: Section 5.9 of the Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1) sets out policy relevant to the Secretary of State’s consideration of impacts on the historic environment, including archaeological sites as part of the development consent process for nationally significant energy infrastructure projects. In considering any application for development consent, the Secretary of State considers all relevant matters including policy related to the historic environment.

Renewable Energy: Archaeological Sites

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact of trial trenching requirements on (a) the delivery of new low-carbon generation projects and (b) associated costs for renewable energy developers.

Andrew Bowie: Planning consents will set requirements for pre-construction archaeological surveys where appropriate, and techniques used may include trial trenching. The most appropriate technique is likely to depend on the specific circumstances in each case.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Redundancy Pay

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2023 to Question 4982, whether the three other severance payments to Ministers made since 2015 were recorded in her Department's annual reports and accounts.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2023 to Question 4982, which other three individuals have received severance payments since 2015; in which years those severance entitlements arose; and what the cost of each payment was.

Victoria Prentis: I would like to thank the Rt Hon Member for bringing this matter to our attention. Due to an oversight in the administrative process by officials, these three payments were not disclosed in the 2022-23 HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor Annual Report and Accounts. The payments will be properly reflected in the 2023-24 HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor Annual Report and Accounts, in line with prevailing guidance on departmental accounts.In the interests of transparency, I can confirm that in the 2022-23 period, the following payments were made:My right hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk) - £14,490 (August 2022)My hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Edward Timpson) - £14,490 (October 2022)My right hon. Friend the Member for Northampton North (Sir Michael Ellis) - £23,612 (November 2022)All three severance payments were made under the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, which provides for severance payments to Ministers who cease to hold office and are not reappointed to the government within 3 weeks. This reflects the lack of any notice period when Ministers leave government.I would note that such statutory provisions have existed across governments of all political colours.

Ministry of Defence

Air Force and Navy: Recruitment

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he last met his departmental leads for recruitment in the (a) Royal Navy and (b) Royal Air Force.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I regularly meet with the Chief of Defence People, the Service Chiefs and Senior leads in the RAF and Royal Navy to discuss a variety of topics including recruitment.

Armed Forces: Housing

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on reducing vacant service family accommodation properties to 10%.

James Cartlidge: As at 16 January 2024, the Department has 47,863 Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties in the UK, 18.6% of SFA were vacant and 96% of SFA met Decent Homes Standard.The void rate has reduced from 23% in 2019 to c. 19.5% in November 2023 to 18.6% in January 2024.Forthcoming changes to accommodation entitlements under the New Accommodation Offer will significantly increase the number of personnel entitled to SFA. This is expected to lead to a significant increase in demand for SFA, thereby reducing the void rate further.

Defence Equipment

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent replacing lost military combat gear in each of the last five years.

James Cartlidge: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 8 of DE&S Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, published on 20 July 2023, HC 1528, when he expects Peregrine to be operational.

James Cartlidge: Peregrine is an important capability for the Royal Navy. It is planned to enter service this summer, subject to operational availability of the ship into which it is being integrated.

Defence Equipment: Bomb Disposal

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 8 of DE&S Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, published on 20 July 2023, HC 1528, when he expects the remaining new generation bomb disposal and search vehicles to be delivered to the Army.

James Cartlidge: All 295 new generation bomb disposal and search vehicles are forecast to be delivered to the Army by March 2025.

Ministry of Defence: Public Relations

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with which public affairs agencies his Department has had discussions in each financial year since 2019-20.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The information requested is not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Ministry of Defence: Internet

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2024 to Question 7285 on Ministry of Defence: Internet, what steps his Department takes to monitor the (a) number and (b) outcome of investigations into the online behaviour of people employed in his Department.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the right hon. Member’s Question. I will write to her when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

Ministry of Defence: Bullying and Harassment

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8680 on Ministry of Defence: Bullying and Harassment, whether his Department issues guidance to officials on determining what a high number is.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 13 March 2021, to Question 8680.Ministry of Defence: Bullying and Harassment (docx, 26.4KB)

Ministry of Defence: Bullying and Harassment

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8921 on Ministry of Defence: Bullying and Harassment, what steps his Department takes to monitor instances of unacceptable behaviour that result in matters being referred to the police.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 15 January 2024, to Question 8921.Ministry of Defence: Bullying and Harassment (docx, 14.7KB)

Ministry of Defence: Bullying and Harassment

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8908 on Ministry of Defence: Bullying and Harassment, when he plans that the review into service complaints will conclude.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Secretary of State for Defence requested that the Chief of Defence people undertake a review of the Service Complaints system. That review is underway and the findings are expected to be reported to the Secretary of State by the end of February 2024.

AUKUS

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Written Statement of 4 December 2023 entitled Update on the AUKUS Defence Partnership, HCWS89, how much his Department has spent on increasing its cyber capabilities since the announcement of the programme.

James Cartlidge: The UK Government has made a significant investment in offensive cyber capabilities, providing a £114 million increase in the National Offensive Cyber Programme as part of the £2.6 billion investment in cyber and legacy IT at the 2021 Spending Review. Within AUKUS, the three Governments are collaborating with industry partners to deploy advanced tooling which will uplift the cyber security of our supply chains, while also giving us greater insight into the threats to AUKUS. As the cyber budget is delivered through integrated programmes across multiple defence and intelligence agencies, it is not possible to disclose individual Departmental spending.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on recruitment for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in each year since 2010.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The following table provides details of the marketing costs and staffing costs which are directly attributable to Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) recruitment. Financial Year2018-192019-202020-212021-222022-232023-24Recruitment Campaign Cost (ex VAT) (£million)0.1030.115000.1750.175Estimated Cost of Direct Headcount in Support of RFA Recruitment (£million)0.3270.3280.3460.3510.3570.438Total0.4300.4430.3460.3510.5320.613 Six Year Total (£million)2.716 Complete information is not held for the duration requested. We have therefore only been able to provide financial input for 6 financial years.These costs do not include:An apportionment of Recruit & Attract HQ staffing costs.An apportionment of Recruiting office workforce in processing of applicants, which has varied over this time period as the recruiting process has evolved.For FY 2020-21 & 2021-22 there were no RFA-specific Marketing Campaigns.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) target and (b) actual number of personnel recruited into the Royal Fleet Auxiliary was in each year since 2010.

James Cartlidge: The Royal Navy (RN) continues to meet its operational commitments, but tackling the recruitment challenge is a top priority The recruitment target and number of personnel recruited into the RFA is detailed below. RFA Total Intake vs Recruiting Targets, 01 April 2010 to 31 March 2023Recruiting YearTotal IntakeRecruitment Target2010-111501772011-1232372012-1334342013-14861222014-151672672015-162173362016-171642042017-181492182018-191451922019-201311662020-211712272021-221672312022-23169201Total intake data prior to 1 April 2015 has been provided, however this has come from a different data source and cannot be validated by Navy Analysis. Caution is advised when comparing to data across the two different sources.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's (a) staffing requirement is and (b) headcount as of 16 January 2024.

James Cartlidge: The staffing requirement for Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Personnel for Financial year 2023-24 is 1,713 personnel. The headcount of the (RFA), as at 1 October 2023 was 1,675. This is the most recently assured figure from Analysis-Navy and was published in the MOD Biannual Civilian Personnel Report October 2023 and can be located at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-biannual-civilian-personnel-report-october-2023This figure includes personnel undergoing professional training before being considered fully deployable in their primary role.

Army: Recruitment

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to the public purse was of the Army's recruitment advert on the online video game Fortnite.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Army is not actively advertising recruitment in Fortnite. A cinematic trailer promoting a series of gaming influencer livestreams cost in the region of £100,000.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the status of each of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave-class tankers is as of 16 January 2024.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 15 June 2023 to Question 188827.RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler (docx, 26.5KB)

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he list the readiness of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's ships and their target readiness days for 2024.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's readiness days target is for (a) the Royal Navy and (b) Royal Fleet Auxiliaries ships.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the response to the right hon. Member’s Question 188829 that was provided on 13 November 2023. A copy of my letter was placed in the Library of the House. As I mentioned in my letter the Ministry of Defence will provide a Written Ministerial Statement on an annual basis which confirms the readiness days for the Surface Fleet for the preceding year. It would therefore not be appropriate to give any updated figures at this time. The normal operating cycle of every ship involves them entering different readiness levels depending on their programmes, periods of refit and Departmental planning requirements. To avoid compromising operational security, the Ministry of Defence does not routinely disclose planned readiness profiles to avoid revealing elements of the Fleet's long-term schedule.

Army: Recruitment

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the use of first person shooter games to advertise armed forces recruitment campaigns.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force are not actively advertising recruitment in first person shooter games.

Armed Forces

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the headcount was of the (a) Intelligence Corps, (b) Parachute Regiment and (c) Royal Marine Commando Forces in each of the last eight years.

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people left the (a) Intelligence Corps, (b) Parachute Regiment and (c) Royal Marine Commando Forces in each of the last eight years.

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the recruitment targets were for the (a) Intelligence Corps, (b) Parachute Regiment and (c) Royal Marine Commando Forces in each of the last eight years; and how many people were recruited to each body in the same period.

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people applied to join the (a) Intelligence Corps, (b) Parachute Regiment and (c) Royal Marine Commando Forces in each of the last eight years.

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the headcount was of the Ranger Regiment on every 1 January since its creation.

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) recruitment target and (b) actual number of joiners was to the Ranger Regiment for each year since its creation.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's questions. I will write to her when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

Ukraine: Military Aid

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6404 on Ukraine: Military Aid, what capabilities will be delivered by each of the 21 contracts awarded from the International Fund for Ukraine between 15 November and 18 December 2023.

James Heappey: As of 18 December, the International Fund for Ukraine had placed 23 contracts. These contracts will deliver the following capabilities: Capability AreaNumber of contractsAir Defence and Counter-Uncrewed Aerial Systems11Uncrewed Aerial Systems5Upgrade and Maintenance of Ukrainian platforms3Manoeuvre Support and Mine Clearance3Maritime1

Ukraine: Military Aid

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6404 on Ukraine: Military Aid, of the 21 contracts awarded from the International Fund for Ukraine between 15 November and 18 December 2023, how many have fully completed deliveries of capabilities to Ukraine as of 17 January 2023.

James Heappey: As of 18 December, the International Fund for Ukraine had placed 23 contracts. Of these 23 contracts, five have fully completed deliveries of equipment to Ukraine.

Ukraine: Military Aid

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6404 on Ukraine: Military Aid, of the 21 contracts awarded from the International Fund for Ukraine between 15 November and 18 December 2023, when he plans for all deliveries of capabilities from these contracts to be delivered to Ukraine.

James Heappey: As of 18 December, the International Fund for Ukraine had placed 23 contracts. All deliveries from these contracts are expected to have completed by the end of quarter one 2025.

Ukraine: Military Aid

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6404 on Ukraine: Military Aid, of the 21 contracts awarded from the International Fund for Ukraine between 15 November and 18 December 2023, how many have begun deliveries of capabilities to Ukraine as of 17 January 2023.

James Heappey: As of 18 December 2023, the International Fund for Ukraine had placed 23 contracts. 12 of these contracts have begun delivering capabilities to Ukraine.

Ministry of Defence: Allowances

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2023 to Question 6435 on Ministry of Defence: Allowances, how much his Department recovered from fraudulent claims in each financial year since 2019-20.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The total value of recoveries received from substantiated closed investigations relating to fraudulent expense claims in each financial year (FY) since 2019-20 is set out below:  FYTotal valueFY 2019-20£32,674FY 2020-21£19,130FY 2021-22£1,528FY 2022-23£14,417FY 2023-24£7,155* * Q1-Q3 for FY 2023-24 (31/12/2023) Recovered monies can relate to investigations that pre-date 2019-20 due to the timeframe an investigation and recovery action can take. The recovery totals provided in the table will have been received in the timeframes stipulated.

Ministry of Defence: Allowances

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 December 2023 to Question 7169 on Ministry of Defence: Allowances, how many claims for subsistence were made in each year since 2019.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 December 2023 to Question 7169 on Ministry of Defence: Allowances, what the value was of subsistence claims in each year since 2019.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The below table shows the number and value of subsistence claims for all MOD core employees, including DE&S and SDA, in the last five calendar years.  Number of claimsTotal Value of claims2019221,057£9,246,180202083,891£3,244,459202176,805£3,357,4972022133,875£7,824,6892023158,065£6,144,513Total673,783£29,917,337.97 A single claim may have more than one ledger item (e.g one claim could be submitted for two meals and a gratuity), however the total cost of each individual subsistence item has been counted.

Defence: Apprentices

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 5499 on Ministry of Defence: Apprentices, what steps his Department takes to monitor where apprenticeships are delivered.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Armed Forces apprenticeships are delivered across most military locations, units and training establishments. Delivery is directly linked to where Armed Forces training takes place, with on-job and consolidation training being conducted across most units, and additional training locations predicated by Service needs. Apprentices are tracked and managed, with monthly data collated centrally for oversight of the entire Armed Forces programme. Defence records where Civil Service apprentices are based, not the locations at which their apprenticeships are delivered. Civil Service apprenticeships are delivered by different contract-winning providers, through a blend of face-to-face and remote learning methods.

Ministry of Defence: Equality

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2024 to Question 7482 on Ministry of Defence: Equality, for how many hours a week his Department expects diversity and inclusion (a) advisers and (b) practitioners to undertake their role.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2024 to Question 7482 on Ministry of Defence: Equality, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of employing diversity and inclusion (a) advisers and (b) practitioners on a full time basis.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2024 to Question 7289 on Ministry of Defence: Staff, what steps his Department takes to monitor the number of diversity and inclusion (a) advisers and (b) practitioners employed by his Department.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Diversity and Inclusion Adviser and Practitioner roles are not full-time staffed positions, rather they are people who have completed a Defence training course and are available to provide advice to our staff on an ad-hoc basis. It is not possible to estimate how many hours our staff dedicate to these voluntary roles as some advisers and practitioners are utilised more often than others. We do not employ diversity and inclusion advisers on a full-time basis. Defence has dedicated diversity and inclusion policy staffs that provide advice and guidance to staff undertaking adviser and practitioner work in addition to their primary role. Training is available to anyone across the organisation who wishes to become an adviser or practitioner, regardless of their profession. We are therefore able to ensure that all parts of the MOD can utilise the valuable resource that these volunteers provide. We do not centrally record the number of diversity and inclusion advisers and practitioners in the Department. This is because they are not full-time roles, rather they are voluntary duties undertaken by colleagues who want to learn more about diversity and inclusion and bring that knowledge and advice back to their teams once they have completed a skills-based training course.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Royal Air Force has engaged in military action in Yemen in each of the last 10 years; and for what reasons it has done so.

James Heappey: The Royal Air Force has engaged in military action in Yemen on two occasions since January 2014. On 11 and 22 January 2024, the Royal Air Force took action alongside allies and partners to degrade Houthi military capabilities linked to attacks on global shipping.

Israel: Gaza

Zarah Sultana: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2024 to Question 9950, how many incidents have been logged in its Tracker database of alleged instances of breaches or violations of International Humanitarian Law on the conduct of Israel in its military engagement in Gaza since October 2023.

James Heappey: The "tracker" referenced in Question 9950 does not log alleged Israeli military International Humanitarian Law violations. It specifically records alleged International Humanitarian Law violations relating to Saudi Arabia’s air campaign in Yemen.

Military Exercises

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when was the last (a) division level and (b) brigade level manoeuvre exercise in the field that was not a CAS exercise.

James Heappey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 December 2023 to Question 6475 to the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris).Military Exercises (docx, 14.8KB)

Defence Equipment & Support: Disclosure of Information

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 18 of the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, how many staff members have utilised the DE&S Whistleblowing and Raising a Concern Policy in each year since 2019.

James Cartlidge: The DE&S Whistleblowing and Raising a Concern Policy sets out two principal routes available to employees who wish to raise a whistleblowing concern; the central MOD Confidential Hotline and discussion with line management. Instances of whistleblowing issues raised directly with line management are not recorded centrally. Regarding the MOD Confidential hotline, between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2023, there were 13 cases raised for DE&S. It is not possible to state how many individuals raised these cases. A breakdown of cases by year is given in the table below: YearNo of Cases 20190 20202 20210 20222 20239

Department for Work and Pensions

Department for Work and Pensions: Artificial Intelligence

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to complete an algorithmic transparency report using the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard for uses of AI in the Lighthouse programme.

Paul Maynard: DWP is already working with the Centre for Data, Ethics and Innovation to ensure the Department uses AI in a safe, ethical, and transparent way. This will include leveraging the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard (ATRS) to identify and apply governance where appropriate. The Department has completed elements of the ATRS for AI use cases in the Department and we are working to complete the full standard. This includes those cases under the Lighthouse programme.

Northern Ireland Office

Disability: Northern Ireland

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has had discussions with the (a) Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and (b) Northern Ireland Executive Office on disability discrimination protections in Northern Ireland.

Mr Steve Baker: The Northern Ireland Office has obligations in relation to equality considerations under both Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and is committed to fulfilling all statutory requirements in relation to its work. However, the setting of equality policy and associated legislation in Northern Ireland is devolved and therefore this is a matter for a Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly to consider.

Disability: Northern Ireland

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for (a) his policies and (b) people living with HIV in Northern Ireland of differences in disability discrimination legislation between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Mr Steve Baker: The Northern Ireland Office has obligations in relation to equality considerations under both Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and is committed to fulfilling all statutory requirements in relation to its work. However, the setting of equality policy and associated legislation in Northern Ireland is devolved and therefore this is a matter for a Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly to consider.

Northern Ireland Office: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many equalities impact assessments his Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Mr Steve Baker: My Department has obligations in relation to equality considerations under both Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Under Section 75, the Northern Ireland Office as a designated public body has a statutory duty to screen all new, proposed or revised policies in relation to functions delivered in Northern Ireland for potential equality impacts and consider a full equality impact assessment (EQIA) for any policies screened in. In the last five years, the Northern Ireland Office has published over 29 screenings and one EQIA in 2022. Further information on the Northern Ireland Office’s Equality Scheme and its published equality assessments can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/northern-ireland-office.

Scotland Office

Question

Amy Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the financial settlement for Scotland.

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the financial settlement for Scotland.

John Lamont: Despite what we hear from the SNP, the Scottish Government is well-funded.As a consequence of the decisions made by this UK Government, the Block Grant is now at record levels, with an additional £2.4 billion across three fiscal events.Scotland receives around 25% more per person than equivalent UK Government spending in other parts of the United Kingdom.That translates into around £8.5 billion more per year on average.

Question

David Duguid: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for the seafood sector in Scotland.

John Lamont: This Government is committed to supporting our seafood sector, which as my hon Friend knows first hand, is at the heart of many rural communities in Scotland.We have recently concluded successful quota negotiations for 2024; delivered a two-year extension to visa exemptions for Salmon well-boat crew; consulted on changes to medical certification for those already working at sea; and are supporting the industry following changes to immigration policy.

Question

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on bringing Afghan female medical students to Scotland.

John Lamont: My Department is working with the Home Office, the FCDO, the Scottish Government and Scottish Universities to support the efforts of the Norgrove Foundation. This is a complex issue and discussions remain ongoing to determine what pathway might be available to the students.

Treasury

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Fraud

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the total value of fraudulent claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; and how much and what proportion of those claims the Government has recovered as of 17 January 2024.

Nigel Huddleston: Information on His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs estimates regarding the rate of error and fraud for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the other COVID-19 support schemes administered by HMRC is available at the following link : https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measuring-error-and-fraud-in-the-covid-19-schemes/error-and-fraud-in-the-covid-19-schemes-methodology-and-approach-an-update-for-2023 Information regarding HMRC’s compliance activity in the COVID-19 support schemes is available at the following link:committees.parliament.uk/publications/42603/documents/211751/default/

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help support mortgage holders with high interest rates; and whether he has had recent discussions with mortgage lenders on taking steps to support mortgage holders.

Bim Afolami: The pricing of mortgages is a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene. However, the Government is regularly in contact with mortgage lenders on all aspects of their business The path to lower interest rates is through low inflation, and the government is fully committed to supporting the Bank of England get inflation back down to the 2% target, including by keeping borrowing under control. The Government has taken steps to limit the impact of rising interest rates on mortgage holders, through the Mortgage Charter, which sets out the standards signatory lenders will adopt when helping their customers, including new flexibilities to help customers manage their mortgage payments over a short period. The Charter is in addition to the significant safeguards already in place for consumers in the mortgage market.

Economic Growth: Inflation

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Growth Plan 2022, published on 23 September 2022, on levels of inflation in the following 12 months.

Bim Afolami: The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for producing forecasts for the UK economy. The OBR set out its latest forecast in the November Economic and Fiscal outlook.

Floods: Compensation

Alan Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the press release entitled Government payments for communities affected by flooding, published on 6 January 2024, what the value of the Barnett Consequential is following the financial support for households flooded as a result of recent storms.

Laura Trott: The Barnett formula will continue to apply in the usual way as set out in the published Statement of Funding Policy document. The Barnett formula is applied when departmental budgets change – not when departments announce how they are spending their budgets. The Barnett consequentials have not yet been confirmed. Any changes would be made at Supplementary Estimates 2023-24.

Millennium Integrated Primary School: Construction

Stephen Farry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether Fresh Start Funding has been awarded for construction of the Millennium Integrated Primary School new build project.

Stephen Farry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when funds will be available from Fresh Start Funding for financial year 2023-24; and what funds are available to the Northern Ireland Department of Finance from that scheme in 2023-24.

Laura Trott: At Main Estimates 2023-24, the Northern Ireland Executive was provided with £64.4 million of capital funding under the Fresh Start Agreement. Any additional Fresh Start Agreement funding in 2023-24 for the Northern Ireland Executive would be confirmed through the Supplementary Estimates process that is ongoing. Funding for individual projects is administered by the Northern Ireland Executive’s Department of Education.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Theatres: Finance

Mark Logan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help ensure that theatres (a) outside London and (b) in Bolton North East constituency receive equitable funding from Arts Council England.

Julia Lopez: His Majesty’s Government is deeply committed to supporting theatres across the whole country, including through public funding to organisations made via Arts Council England.The arts are for everyone, and the Government has made it a priority to ensure that funding for the arts is fairly distributed across the country. Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 National Portfolio, increased funding of £444.6 million per annum will fund a record 985 organisations in more parts of the country than ever before. This is an increase from £410 million per annum and 828 organisations under the previous portfolio. Of the 275 new organisations joining the funding portfolio, 214 are outside London.Overall investment in theatre has also increased through this round of the Arts Council’s investment programme – both in terms of the number of organisations supported, and the volume of funding, which is now more than £110 million per annum, encompassing 194 organisations. The Octagon Theatre in Bolton receives annual funding of £625,359. In the last three years, theatres and theatre-focused projects in the Bolton North East constituency have received over £2.5 million of funding via Arts Council England.